Varsity Students Riot Over Fees

By Vusumuzi Sifile

STATE universities have more than quadrupled fees for this semester, The Standard has learnt. Many students, turning up for the beginning of the semester were shocked to find fees had been hiked beyond their reach.

This led to riots at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

At NUST, a number of cars and buildings were stoned during the skirmishes. At the UZ, a bank building on campus was damaged.

At the Midlands State University (MSU) students had been told to set aside between $300m and $400m for fees. But when they went for registration, they were informed the fees at all state universities had been reviewed to between $3.7 billion and $4.34 billion.

At the UZ, students pay an additional $10 billion for accommodation on campus.

The Zimbabwe National Students’ Union (ZINASU) says the new fees are “nefarious and insensitive”.

“The government has surely reneged on its social responsibility of ensuring support for students in institutions of higher learning and guaranteeing the provision of the right to education,” said Zinasu secretary general, Lovemore Chinoputsa.

He said “such absurd amounts of fees are beyond the reach of many and are just a measure to malign and segregate the elite from the non-elite”.

Repeated attempts to get a comment from Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Stan Mudenge were fruitless last week.

But in his last interview with The Standard, on Wednesday 27 February, Mudenge said they had “great plans” for the students when they re-open.

Mudenge said then: “They will see what we are doing for them when they open for the new semester.

They should wait and see what we are doing to address their present plight and situation when they open.”

Although the fees being charged at State universities may appear less by Zimbabwean standards today, Chinoputsa said “many students are sons and daughters of poor peasant farmers” who have no reliable source of income.

“This is a deliberate move to deny the students of Zimbabwe their right to education.
Most government officials have their children learning at international universities where large sums of the much-needed foreign currency are paid to the prejudice of the nation,” Chinoputsa said.

On Wednesday, UZ Vice-Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura was quoted as saying the fees were “very little to attract this attack”.

NUST spokesperson, Felix Moyo would not provide details, saying the violent incident happened when he was away.