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Student activist victimised at Harare Polytechnic College
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
February 15, 2010

A student activist from Harare Polytechnic College, Peter Garanewako was on Friday, 12 February 2010 indefinitely barred from entering college premises on allegations of inciting students to riot against the college authorities. This comes after Cde Garanewako approached college authorities in the company of ZINASU National Executive Council members demanding an explanation as to why the authorities were forcing students to pay tuition fees for the 1st 2009 Semester which according to the students was a non academic term as the college was closed.

The activist together with the ZINASU NEC members held numerous meetings with the administration raising among other issues, the deliberate failure by the Principal to call for Student Representative Council elections, withholding of last term's results by the authorities over non payment of fees, barring students from attending lecturers over failure to produce proof of paying tuition fees. The delegation tried fruitlessly to negotiate with the authorities to allow students to learn and pay the fees later but they were obdurate emphasising that students should pay the fees before attending the lectures.

They failed to reach a consensus and the students leaders met up with students after the meeting and briefed them on the outcome of the meeting. The students were disgruntled by the outcome and planned to engage in protests until the college authorities resolve their grievances. This prompted the authorities to declare Peter Garanewako a "hostile" student thus the decision to bar him from entering the college premises. The student activist only came to know about the move when he was stopped by college security guards upon entering the premises on Friday and was briefly detained for close to one hour where he was seriously interrogated. He was later taken to the Principal, Mr Raza who stated to Cde Garanewako that he was indefinitely barred from entering college premises and that if he wanted to enter the premises he should be accompanied by security guards. He was also told to re-register for his programme as the initial registration ceased forthwith.

This behaviour by the authorities is uncalled for and legal action has been taken against the institution. Cases of students' victimization have been rampant this year and ZINASU is working flat out to readdress these anomalies in the institutions of higher learning. The ZINASU Advocacy desk has designed a "success story campaign" and will take a sample list of affected students for litigation. This will be done in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Lawyers Human Rights. This campaign seeks to ensure that college authorities do not abuse students with impunity.

Visit the ZINASU fact sheet

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