In addition the response from some sections of the media did not help the situation either, as there was a desperate attempt to smuggle in a political twist to the events that prompted authorities at UZ to temporarily close the institution. At this rate you will hear someone blaming the sanctions on the recent disturbances at the UZ as the sky is the limit for some sections of the fourth estate.
To put the record straight, the temporary closure of the UZ last week was triggered by unfounded fears that the student protests were going to spread to other state-run institutions who are in an almost similar situation if not worse off. And this situation is that of workers (both academic and non-academic staff) who have gone for months without salaries because of late disbursements from the sneezing and always empty treasury.
This is what prompted the lecturers and non-academic staff to down tools as a way of pressing the employer to honor up on these contractual obligations. This then paralyzed the so called DACS (Department of Accommodation and Catering Services) arm of the university as the workers whose duty is to provide food to the resident students joined the job action leaving the students without food after the same students had paid a cool USD 400 in cash for food and accommodation for the whole semester.
After paying such an amount the least thing one would expect is to be told that there is no food and that those who are supposed to prepare the food have not been paid. The million dollar question is how does such a situation ensue? Where did the money go? I hope you did not use some of it to sponsor some birthday bashes and congratulatory messages in the print and electronic media.
When the semester opened most students were shocked that the authorities wanted the tuition to be settled in full through a once off payment, something that was a clear departure from the norm of paying it in two installments. And this fatwa stood for almost three weeks with more than three quarters of the students failing to register.
The students only managed to register after three weeks of opening when the fatwa was lifted. They were then forced to pay late registration penalties amounting to USD 30. With an enrolment in excess of 10 000 students one then wonders why the same institution then fails to pay its staff on time when students are always forced to pay on time. Again the question comes; where is the money going?
There is a clear case of an irretrievable break down of communication between the college authorities and the students and the recent protest and temporary closure of the campus is a manifestation of this break down. The resultant information lacuna has created a fertile ground for speculation, misinformation, suspicion and contemptuous behavior.
The university authorities should have been the first to inform the resident students of the job action by the non-academic staff and assure the students that they will get food in one way or the other instead leaving students to discover it on their own that all was not well at the dining halls. It is that assurance that the students wanted instead of being treated as snake-holders and hooligans. That is precisely the reason why we have Student Representatives Councils (SRC).
Now when the college authorities display amazing efficiency in summoning the anti-riot police to quell a non-existent riotous situation by hungry students; when in actual fact they should have displayed the same efficiency in paying their staff, only boggles the mind beyond being an indication of the presence of a trigger happy motley group commonly referred to as college authorities.
To this end one is forced to conclude that there is gross maladministration of the college by the Nyagura-led executive and what we witnessed last week is just the ear of the hippopotamus in terms of how these centres we used to call centres of academic excellence have degenerated into income generating centres with no traceable accountability and transparency mechanisms.
The quality of education that students are getting from these public institutions is highly questionable, and after paying exorbitant fees to attain university education thousands and thousands of these students are dumped into the streets where the prospects of employment are non-existent. Cry my beloved Zimbabwe!
Post published in: News