Scholarships For Student Victims Whose Studies Are Disrupted By Govt Harassment

ZimJournalists Arise received this release a bit late but we thought we would circulate this, owing to the active role the Zimbabwe National Students Union has been playing in giving the Mugabe regime some headaches. ZINASU President Promise Mkwananzi, Beloved Chiweshe and many others have beaten up and brutalized dozens of times, this year alone. These young men and women have revived Zimbabwean student politics reminiscent of the heady days of Arthur Mutambara, Martin Dhinha and others. However after the journalists have done their stories, coverage of how these students survive disturbances to their careers and studies, the repercussions on their academic careers are mostly ignored. These students spend days on end languishing in jails or are just simply asked not to sit exams. A case in point being Promise Mkwananzi.

By Student Solidarity Trust
Seven students who were either expelled or suspended during their tertiary
education in Zimbabwe were honoured by the Students Solidarity Trust last
week after completing their university degrees elsewhere during the course
of this year’s “against all odds” consultative meeting and ceremony held
in Bulawayo on the 18th of November 2006.

The seven received their awards of honour at a ceremony, dubbed “The
against all odds” ceremony, attended by over 130 former & current student
leaders and activists. The function coincided with the International
Students Day, which is commemorated on the 17th of November and was
witnessed by SST board members, ZINASU national council members, and
various students organizations including the Zimbabwe Students Christian
Movement, the National Movement of Catholic Students, Female Students
Network, the Youth Initiative for Democracy in Zimbabwe (YIDEZ) and
SAYWHAT, a students organization that deals with reproductive health
issues.

The majority of the students completed their studies through distance
education with the University of South Africa, and various local colleges
of their choice.

The seven are Tamuka Chirimambowa, John Bomba, Evernice Munando – the only
female fellow in the trust, Eddington Shayanewako, Phillani Zamchiya,
Hillary Kundishora and Showers Mawowa. These students were direct
beneficiaries of the SST’s Students Social Safety Net Programme. The
programme avails funds for study grants, largely, with UNISA and any other
local college to politically victimised human rights defender from the
students’ movement.

“It was a fitting recognition of the tremendous valour and courage
displayed by the fellows who managed to complete their degree programmes,
after having endured sustained persecution and victimization from the
incumbent Mugabe regime,” says McDonald Lewanika, the Coordinator of the
SST.

At the same event, honorary convocations were also awarded to students who
continued to fall victim to the University administration, going through
bouts of torture, harassment, arrests and systematic de-registrations and
suspensions. These are Phillip Pasirai, Benjamin Nyandoro, Washington
Katema, Masimba Kuchera Lawrence Mashungu, Gladys Hlatshwayo, Isaac
Chimutashu, and Otto Saki, who is nowan award winning human rights lawyer
and a board member of the Students Solidarity Trust.

“They managed to attain their degrees, defying all odds,often, seeking
sanctuary under the SST’s Social Safety Net Programme,”said Lewanika.

Activism by students in Zimbabwe has been marred by the Zanu PF regime’s
ruthlessness which has seen students shot to death, brutalized and
arrested for demonstrating against increasing costs of education,
privatization and corruption as well as hardships caused by the
deteriorating economic conditions caused by the Government’s inept
policies and bad governance.