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March 29 2008: Uhuru
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
March 18, 2008

The University of Zimbabwe Students Union notes its displeasure over the blatant violation of the rights of some of our present and former members vying for various portfolios in the run-up to the harmonized presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. It is clear to us that the government and its machinery are in a state of mental diarrhea given the threat that our members pose to the continuation of bad governance by ZANU-PF.

We are an integral member of the pro-democratic forces of Zimbabwe and we are known to be driven by the fundamental values of democratic citizenship. Elections to us are our opportunity to endorse those with whom we share the same beliefs while at the same time denouncing those who negate the very essence of our existence. Arresting Marvelous Kumalo the MDC Tsvangirai candidate for St Mary's, a former member of our students union and ZINASU only shows the brutality and contempt with which we are seen by the ZANU-PF regime. Tinashe Kazuru, a medical student contesting the ward 7 Zengeza West council election spent four days in prison on trumped up, frivolous and vexatious charges together with Sheldon Patsika a physio-therapy student because he was from the MDC (Tsvangirai) faction and because he is a member of ZINASU. He was brutally attacked by ZANU-PF youths after addressing a ward meeting and was robbed of a cell phone, shoes, campaign materials and cash. What is painful is that he was charged under the Public Order and Security Act for being a victim of a hooligan's act especially since he was released at Harare magistrate's court on Monday 17 March after the complainant failed to turn up.

We are not going to forget the 9 July evictions. In fact, what we are going to do is vote resoundingly for a new political dispensation that protects our interests. We are going to vote for those that supported us when our leaders were brutally assaulted on the 11th of March for attending a prayer meeting in Highfield. In other words, we are not going to be bought by cheap politics by people who believe that students at the University of Zimbabwe can be hurt one minute, then bought by meaningless vows the next. Our vote is not going to come at a cheap price when we vote for change on the 29th of March 2008. We are going to vote for quality and affordable education, equally accessible to all. The ZANU-PF government has failed in all respects and has actually succeeded in making the University of Zimbabwe a footnote in the story of tertiary education.

Under the auspices of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), we are not ashamed of backing the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai and nobody will receive an apology for this stance. We believe this is our opportunity to denounce mediocrity in governance, nepotism, corruption, political impotence and more importantly declare it is to the rest of the country that it is almost uhuru.

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