HUMAN rights group and opposition parties have reacted angrily to the heavy-handed nature with which authorities at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) dealt with a demonstration by medical students on Monday following an upward revision of fees.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA/ Vanessa Gonye
Over 600 students in the faculty of medicine were forced out of their halls of residences in the commotion that followed a peaceful demonstration against fee increases from $450 to $900 by the institution. Social activist Evan Mawarire was arrested after he addressed the protesting students.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) condemned the university’s action.
“ZADHR condemns in the strongest sense the brutalisation of medical students by the university security today (Monday) at the University of Zimbabwe (College of Health Sciences) while exercising their right to picket against the tuition fees hike.
“It is worrisome when such pronouncements are made during the examination period as they compromise preparedness by the students. We urge the university authorities to constructively engage with the students and find each other for the purpose of furthering the academic objectives of both the university and those of the students,” the group said.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) expressed concern over the treatment of the students.
“ZimRights considers the rash decision to evict the students and arrest activist, Pastor Evan Mawarire, who was at the campus in solidarity, as an attack on the freedom to protest set out in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Section 59.
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“It is also clear that the rate at which the authorities have been hiking the tuition fees for university students, despite that many of them are already in huge debts, is insensitive to the economic realities prevailing in the country,” the rights watchdog said.
“Forgetting the fact that university education is central to the development of the country, the government has been progressively abdicating on its responsibility to help meet the costs preferring to push the burden to students and poor families.”
The group demanded the unconditional return of the evicted students.
Opposition MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu also expressed outrage over the issue.
“We strongly condemn the arrest and harassment of UZ students who have been demonstrating for a very just and legitimate cause. The fascist Zanu PF regime should desist from employing repressive and strong-arm tactics against peaceful protests,” Gutu said. “Is this the Zimbabwe that we want? The MDC calls upon the UZ administration, together with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, to immediately engage the medical students and find a lasting solution to this impasse.”
Meanwhile, High Court judge, Justice Nyaradzo Munangati-Munongwa, will today hear an urgent chamber application filed by the affected UZ students seeking to reverse their eviction from halls of residence.
The matter is in response to an application by a medical student, Clifford Charera, against their eviction from the institution’s premises after they staged demonstrations against the fee increase.
In his urgent application filed at the High Court yesterday, Charera cited the notice given to them by the third respondent, UZ registrar Sergeant Chevo, as very short and inhumane.
“The notice was issued around 13:00 hours and the notice period was unreasonably short, given how difficult it is to secure accommodation,” Charera said in his application.
He further quotes from the registrar’s circular which was given to them around 13:00 hrs which stated they should vacate the premises by 13:15.
Charera, with advice from his legal team from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Bellinda Chinowawa and Noble Chinhanhu, is acting on section 68 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which enshrines the right to administrative justice, requiring authorities to act in a manner which is lawful, prompt, efficient, reasonable, proportionate, impartial and both substantively and procedurally fair.
“For purposes of my studies, I regard the university halls of residence as my home and the provisions of section 74 of the Constitution proscribe evictions done without a court order obtained after considering all relevant circumstances. The respondents, therefore, cannot arbitrarily evict me on 15 minutes’ notice,” he said.
Charera argues that authorities should have acted singularly upon those who might have resorted to expressing themselves in a violent manner instead of making a collective decision.
