……. As the students are released on free bail and All students allowed to write Exams
The ZINASU Leadership comprising of the President Joshua Chinyere, Secretary General, Grant Tabvurei, Information and Publicity Secretary, Wisdom Mgagara and 24 other students from Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) appeared in Court at Bindura Magistrate Court facing charges of political nuisance and were all released on free bail.
The charges rose after a demonstration at the college which occurred after college authorities denied students who had failed to pay their tuition fees access to write examinations yesterday. The students sought the intervention of ZINASU. The Union leadership held several meetings with the college authorities to try and address the problem but the authorities were adamant. This led to serious protests at the college leading to the arrests.
Hundreds of students from BUSE flocked the court room including the college’s SRC leadership led by the President, Paul Dakarayi and the Secretary General who ululated after the arrested students were released on free bail. The SRC Leadership thanked ZINASU for the swift response in addressing the plight of students at the college. The demonstration forced the college authorities to reverse their earlier decision and it was announced that all students will now write their examinations on Monday, 18 January 2010 irregardness of whether they paid the exorbitant fees or not.
The students were represented by Mr. Tafadzwa Mugabe a prominent lawyer with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). ZINASU would like to thank ZLHR, Student Solidarity Trust, the Ministry of Higher Education and all partner organizations who assisted during the arrests. ZINASU launched a campaign in January 2010 code named “Education not for Sale”. Protests are likely to cascade to other colleges as most students are facing a problem of unaffordable education. The new ZINASU executive is on national tour. The Union assures its membership that it will continue defending academic freedoms in Zimbabwe and will work to ensure that education becomes accessible for all.
