ZIMBABWE-EDUCATION: University Students Launch Indefinite Boycott

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Lewis Machipisa

HARARE, Mar 26 1997 (IPS) - University students here Wednesday started an indefinite strike over the state’s delay in paying their stipends and against a recent measure that requires new students to pay half their fees.

The strike follows unrest at the University of Zimbabwe campus here on Tuesday when the students fought running battles with the riot squad after the policemen sealed off the campus to prevent them from marching into town.

Explaining the reasons for the indefinite boycott of classes, Students Representative Council (SRC) President Learnmore Jongwe told IPS: “It does not make much sense for the government to expect students to pay 50 percent of fees when over 95 percent of the students come from humble parents.

“Our mothers and fathers are the very civil servants who were crying for salary increases last year. Our parents are the very doctors and nurses who went on strike last year for more money. So where do they expect them to get the money from. It is therefore incumbent for government to support us by meeting all the costs.”

Up to the 1996 academic year, university students automatically benefitted from loans which covered the cost of their tuition, board and accomodation. After graduation, the loans had to be repaid in monthly instalments.

This still holds for people who were already enrolled last year, but new students have to pay 50 percent of their costs, while the state loan covers the remainder.

In announcing the new requirement late last year, the government charged that it had been forced to introduce partial fee-paying because many former students had not been repaying the loans they received from the state.

But Jongwe feels that the government is on the wrong track.

“There must be a mechanism for ensuring that the loans paid to the students are paid back upon completion,” he says. “The policy is unfair in that it discriminates against students at university in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean students studying outside the country get full national scholarships.”

He also criticises a decision by the government to set up a mechanism for screening students to determine which ones can pay their fees and assist only those who are really in need. “Our submission,” he says, “is that there is no need for that screening committee. Whether someone is poor or rich they are going to pay back the loan so they should get it.”

Said second-year law student Rejoice Muwadzuri: “We are not children from rich families. What the government is doing does not help the country at all. The country is short of doctors and other professionals and so by introducing this fee many will drop out.”

While they are not affected by the 50-percent requirement, the more senior students have other grouses. They say the allowance of 1,200 Zimbabwe dollars (109 U.S. dollars) per term they get from the state is peanuts. “That amount cannot buy stationery for 15 weeks,” said Jongwe. “It cannot buy food for 15 weeks.”

“If you break it down you find that you have seven dollars (3.6 U.S. cents) for food,” added the third-year law student.”Do they want us to forego lunch and supper and have very little breakfast?”

Moreover, the stipend has been late in coming. According to second-year Science student John Bhobho, the students are finding it hard to survive on campus as they have not received any money since the university opened last week.

“If we don’t get these payouts then we will continue with the boycott,” he said. “We want to get the people involved on the negotiating table.”

The SRC is liasing with the police so that “we can have a protest march in town,” said Jongwe. “We also want to meet President Robert Mugabe.”

But on Tuesday, the police gave no indication that it was in a mood to “liaise”. The riot squad was deployed on campus to break up a peaceful demonstration by the students. According to a local human rights watchdog, Zimrights, the law enforcers also teargassed residential halls without provocation.

“Deployment of the riot squad at the campus was uncalled for and provocative,” said David Chimhini, Zimrights’ executive director. “While we accept the need to have the riot squad on stand-by, we categorically object to the idea to deploy it on campus.”

“It has now become a tradition for government to wait until students demonstrate before pay-outs are made,” he added. “This is quite questionable and in our opinion those responsible for making payouts are solely to blame for disturbances at the campus.

“We also appeal to the government to reconsider its position on the payment of 50 percent of the fees which is understood to cover accommodation and tuition,” said Chimhini. “We are reliably informed that the majority of the students are failing to raise the remaining 50 percent which is to cover food and other basics.

“As a result students are surviving on near starvation diets and it is only a matter of time before we get reports of students starving.”

But the government is unlikely to come back on its decision, especially since it faces a budget deficit expected to equal 11 percent of gross domestic product this year.

Efforts by IPS to get comments from the Ministry of Higher Education proved fruitless: a ministry official said Minister Ignatius Chombo was “not available until after the Easter holiday.”