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Report on students' victimization research
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
May 13, 2010

There has been an alarming and shocking upsurge in the levels of student victimization in state run institutions of higher learning in the past year 2009 and unabated continuance in 2010; this is despite the inception of the Inclusive Government. All progressive forces in and out of Zimbabwe thought the GNU was going to make significant and meaningful efforts to open up democratic spaces in state tertiary institutions, as well as reforming the totalitarian governance of these institutions by the Vice Chancellors and Principals who have become a law unto themselves.

The draconian piece of legislature ordinance 30 borne out of the UZ Act used by Universities and Colleges to curtail student activism, has been used indiscriminately by state institutional authorities who act like quasi judges under this ordinance to cow student activists and render the students movement redundant as well as incapacitate the organizational capacity of the movement.

The recorded statistics of student leader's victimizations that happened across Zimbabwe last year are as follows, 3 expulsions and 7( 2 year) suspensions at National University of Science and Technology (NUST), 25 suspensions varying in duration from a year to two years at Great Zimbabwe University(GZU) and 3 suspensions at Midlands State University (MSU) all carrying a year sentence, This year alone 7 student leaders have already been suspended from Bindura University of Science and Education(BUSE) for effectively a year and two University of Zimbabwe students were indefinitely suspended.

The crime that these student leaders supposedly committed was organizing and rallying students against the criminal and academic genocidal tuition fees. The fees were imposed in state tertiary institutions and they are beyond the reach of the majority of students who come from impoverished backgrounds given the harsh political and economic environment prevailing in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) launched the National Campaign Against Privatization of Education in Zimbabwe (NACAPEZ) as a mitigation tool against the neo-liberal policies being unleashed with lethal accuracy on the student's community by the government of the day. This policy agenda has seen a systematic and deliberate attempt made by the inclusive regime to commercialize and privatize education effectively making it a preserve of the elite .This has denied the suffering poor means of fully developing themselves so as to meaningfully and effectively contribute towards the socio-economic and political discourse of the country.

There seems to be selective amnesia when it comes to the historical and simplistic view that the state tertiary administrations across the country continue to exhibit. Expelling and suspending vibrant student leaders as a means of trying to silence and cow the student's community into submission has never worked and will not work. Indeed a leadership vacuum is created by expelling and suspending student activists, but sooner rather than later that void will soon be filled, by yet another highly conscious and dedicated group of activists so long as the present status quo continues to prevail in our state tertiary institutions.

The continued victimization of student leaders is deplorable and should be condemned with the utter contempt it deserves. Students should be allowed their right to freedom of expression, association and if need be, they should feel free to demonstrate peacefully on and off campus without fear of retribution and reprisals.

Meanwhile, the students from the University of Zimbabwe who forged the institution's stamp which they later used on registration forms in order to be able to write exams. The twelve students were convicted and were sentenced to 3 months imprisonment but wholly suspended on the basis that they do not commit the same offense in a period of 3 years.

The students were charged US$100 each by the lawyers who provided legal representation which they cannot raise (Well-wishers willing to assist these students can contact ZINASU on this e-mail address). These students are not criminals but they were trying to defend their right to education since the government has failed to observe this right. One student amongst the convicted is a son of a peasant farmer in Gokwe who is expecting to pay the fees from Cotton proceeds. The Cotton buyers should be sincere and pay an equal price for the product not to take advantage of the poverty stricken peasants.

The broader civic society and government seek to repeal or reform POSA, AIPPA and BSA laws, the draconian University and College Acts should be no exception. The student's movement; no matter what type of tactics overt or covert that the regime might use to destabilize and curtail our operations as a Union, we shall remain resolute and resilient in the face of all their fruitless endeavors.

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