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State repression: students bear the brunt
Masimba Nyamanhindi
April 02, 2006

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=21&id=437

STUDENTS play crucial and decisive roles in the political and socio-economic issues in their respective societies.

This is especially so because institutions of higher learning provide a platform for students to form competent organised centres of opinion, which opinions normally reflect the state of affairs of a given society.

In societies that experience political, social and economic injustices, more often than not, students have been at the forefront of demanding social, economic and political justice.

History shows that students have indeed lived up to their billing - voice of the voiceless - and have acted as catalysts for change.

Zimbabwe is no different.

The Zimbabwean society has always been beset by morally incompetent leadership that uses coercion as a form of governance.

Before independence, Zimbabwe was a country bedevilled by political and economic injustices where all forms of racial discrimination were operational.

But students did not just watch when the country was burning; they echoed the demands of a downtrodden nation, that is, restoration of people's fundamental liberties and freedoms.

Many a times, the consequences of their actions were fatal, often leaving in their wake a trail of dead or injured student activists.

Some were expelled. Zimbabweans recall the expulsion of the late Witness Mangwende, Simba Makoni and the late prolific writer Dambudzo Marechera after leading the famous "pots and pans" demonstration.

As Zimbabweans were imbued with the euphoria of independence, signs that Zimbabwe would be a failed nation were becoming apparent.

Soon after independence, the country got embroiled in a bloody civil war that claimed the lives of scores of thousands of innocent civilians in the Matabeleland and the Midlands region.

This was genocide in which more than 20 000 civilians perished in that dark era of Zimbabwean history.

Unfortunately, students and Zimbabweans from the other side of the road were silent at a time when an inferno was engulfing Matabeleland and the Midlands.

Be that as it may, when it was becoming increasingly clear that the political leadership in Zimbabwe was driven by selfish agendas more than anything else, students in Zimbabwe broke their silence.

They were at the forefront of speaking out against corruption, a cancerous canker that has continued to eat into the social fabric of the Zimbabwean society.

Since that time corruption has remained deeply endemic within Zimbabwe's society.

Students condemned the high profile Willowgate Scandal.

As students clamoured for transparency from the government, journalists and musicians joined in the fray.

Thomas Mukanya Mapfumo, a renowned protest musician released a blockbuster, titled Corruption - a song that condemned corruption.

Student leaders who led the sentiments against corruption were brutalised and suspended.

The then President of the University of Zimbabwe students' union, Arthur Mutambara, wrote his examinations from the cells.

He is now trying to lead Zimbabweans.

The deliberate and systematic attack on the liberties and freedoms of students' activists in Zimbabwe has continued, unabated and if left unchecked could be a cocktail for disaster.

During the last two weeks alone, we have witnessed the suspension and expulsion of 37 students at the country's institutions of higher learning.

The University of Zimbabwe has expelled four student leaders.

The National University of Science and Technology has suspended 29 student activists and Masvingo Polytechnic has expelled one student leader.

Since 2000, the Students Solidarity Trust has documented at least 100 cases of victimisation of student activists, which include suspensions and expulsions.

At a time when the education sector is going through a turbulent crisis, universities and colleges were thrown into disarray when the government unilaterally increased tuition and accommodation fees for students.

The increment was so sudden and exorbitant that it threatens the capacity of ordinary students to attain tertiary education.

Yet every child has a right to attain decent education so that they can have the opportunity to earn a decent living and escape from the vicious clutches of poverty.

There is now a real danger that the majority of students will fail to attain tertiary education.

Harare Polytechnic has turned away thousands of students and NUST has given students up until next week to pay up the fees or risk being expelled.

While students en masse are faced with expulsions, the systematic victimisation of those brave students fighting the increments has reached alarming and unprecedented levels.

President Robert Mugabe's regime continues to outflank the Ian Smith regime in almost every aspect of oppression.

It seems oppression is the only industry that is growing in Zimbabwe.

Until all these ills are removed and true democratic order is restored, Zimbabwe's independence will forever remain hollow and meaningless.

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