MORE than 400 Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) students on scholarships and specialising in indigenous languages have been barred from lectures due to non-payment of fees by the government for two consecutive semesters.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
Students, who spoke to Southern Eye on Thursday, said their fees were being paid by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), but the government was not remitting the money to the university.
“Unicef has paid [but] Treasury has not remitted the funds. It owes GZU more than $400 000. They tried to pay $40 000, but GZU denied the offer and this led to the present situation,” one student said.
“Student representatives went to Harare to see the permanent secretary and directors and they were to bring receipts reflecting the breakdown of our $671 fees per semester. But they failed to access these because the registrar, vice-registrar and vice-chancellor were out of their offices.”
Students said their representatives phoned the Harare office and the matter was referred to the Higher Education ministry.
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Students said life has become unbearable for them as they pay rentals ranging between $50 and $70.
GZU director of information and public relations, Anderson Chipatiso could not be drawn to discuss the matter, preferring to say: “As a university, for one to be an eligible student, they have to be paid up. They have to first clear fees from the previous semester, so that they can be able to register for the following semester.”
Luka Ncube, a student representative, who reportedly went to Harare on behalf of others, was not co-operative.
“That information is private. What do I get if I give you the information? If there is nothing, then I won’t give you anything,” he said.