About 400 students drawn from all tertiary institutions in Harare
attended the glorious event. Several civic society leaders, prominent
politicians graced the occasion. The ZINASU President Clever Bere
delivered the key note address and saluted former ZINASU leaders who
died in the struggle for students’ rights and these including the late
Learnmore Jongwe, Christopher Giwa, Lameck Chemvura and the late
Batanai Hadzizi for the sterling work and commitment towards attaining
academic freedoms. The commemorations are coming at a time when
Zimbabwe’s education system has deteriorated to alarming levels. In
2008 alone over 350 students have been victimised for various vexatious
and ludicrous reasons while defending the right to education in
Zimbabwe. ZINASU has had its leadership tortured, beaten arrested and
suspended from college while fighting for students in Zimbabwe.
Commemorations were being held concurrently in all provinces across the
country, as students gathered en masse in solidarity to this
international event. Solidarity messages flocked from across the globe
in recognition of the outstanding and significant impact ZINASU has
made in the fight for academic freedoms and students rights. The list
among others is as follows SAIH, National Union of Ghana Students
(NUGS), Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), and the University
of Botswana students union, International Movement of Catholic Students
(IMCS), South African Students Congress (SASCO) and Promise Mkwananzi
representing Zimbabwean students who failed to complete their studies
in Zimbabwe for political victimization.
The commemorations also created a platform for networking through
sporting and recreational activities which united various youth
organisations across the country.
Students vowed to perpetuate the struggle premised on the background of
the commemorations of the International Students Day which started
69 years ago at a University in Prague and this saw nine students being
killed and 1200 being sent to concentration camps by the fascist
Czechoslovakia regime. We salute the students from Burma who have been
sentenced to 65 years imprisonment while fighting pro democracy
struggles.
Our demands as ZINASU remain as follows:
1. Opening for learning of all tertiary institutions currently closed.
2. A people driven constitution that recognises the right to education
as fundamental human right.
3. Free and quality education
4. Improvement in living and learning conditions for students at
tertiary institutions
5. Immediate review of working and remuneration packages for academic
and non academic personnel.
6. A framework that provides for the formulation of an alternative
education policy.
7. A resolution to the political impasse currently gripping the
country.
For and on behalf of the union
Blessing Vava
Spokesperson
Zimbabwe National Students Union
353 Samora Machel Ave,
Harare, Zimbabwe,
+263913022456/ +263913010369
zinasu@gmail.com
www.zinasu.org
ZINASU is a national union of students representing all institutions of
higher learning in Zimbabwe. Its vision is to see a robust education
system in a democratic Zimbabwe. And its niche is to defend academic
freedoms in Zimbabwe.