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Tertiary fees outrageous
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
April 09, 2008

The recently imposed tuition and accommodation fees by the Government at all state universities in Zimbabwe are shocking and to say the least unacceptable. For the government, in particular the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education to assume that students can afford $10 Billion at one go is nefarious and insensitive. The students of Zimbabwe wish to make it categorically clear that 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.

At present, there is practically no government in Zimbabwe as the just ended election results are yet to be announced. This therefore implies that the country is being governed illegally by unelected leaders so for them to sit down selfishly and impose outrageous fees on ordinary students is shocking. The state is being run by fraudsters and a band of mafias. The Government has surely reneged on its social responsibility of ensuring support to students in institutions of Higher Learning and guaranteeing the provision of the right to Education.

It should be brought to the attention of anyone who cares to listen that many students are sons and daughters of poor peasant farmers and for those whose parents are lucky to be still employed in a country where the rate of unemployment is above 80%, have their parents earning threadbare salaries as their parents are impecunious civil servants. 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 at the prejudice of the nation.

What is even more worrying is that state resources continue to be poured down the sewer drain as hundreds of undeserving and unqualified students at Fort Hare and other universities in South Africa continue to benefit from Mugabe's Presidential scholarships at the expense of thousands of suffering and talented students back in Zimbabwe. The profligate amounts of foreign currency being splashed on undeserving students in South Africa should have been used productively to improve the education system in the country for the benefit of the majority.

The Zimbabwean government's lack of interest and commitment in funding education is shocking. Where do they expect students to get such enormous amounts of money when the average civil servant is being paid a paltry Z$400 000 000-00.

It is high time the country is taken over by deserving, committed and serious leadership as it is self evident that the mafias running the country will never stop dragging the nation through the mud of mismanagement and corruption. Education is the essential ingredient in all efforts to rebuild a nation and in seeking to ensure economic stability and prosperity.

We therefore urge all students of Zimbabwe to boycott these illegitimate fees.

Visit the ZINASU fact sheet

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