The demise of the University of Zimbabwe
I was a University of Zimbabwe student once. When academic programmes were over subscribed, the administration was over worked, departments were understaffed and the entire University was underfunded. This was before the elections that officially didn’t cause the closure. Evidence of the silent rioting that happened at night, after the library was closed, would be found first thing in the morning. Broken windows, overturned chairs and benches, or the smouldering car that belonged to some fat cat who was visiting someone in Swinton.
I was a student at the University of Zimbabwe when unidentifiable members of the CIO and police attended lectures they did not understand with students. When one semester the University opened and I found that there were more police officers on campus than students. I come from a long line of University graduates, all of whom proudly hold up several degrees from the University of Zimbabwe. They don’t understand how the University that they remember, could have turned into what it was when I was a student, and what it is now: a place of unfulfilled promise and broken dreams. Their University, was a place of hushed academic endeavour. Merely being present on campus inspired them to strive for excellence in their respective programmes. They wanted for nothing and for them being at the University was a break from the suffering of living in the communal or what was then the Tribal Trust Lands. I have heard them speak of moving into the Halls of Residence, and how it meant you were a serious student. Being present on that same campus meant suffering for almost everyone I attended University with. Those same Halls of Residence were little more than glorified brothels; and were tellingly named after cities that suffered heavy handed bombing. I’m told that your University days are supposed to be your most idealistic, when you believe in the good of and fighting for humanity. Yet somehow our students leaders were poisoned. Student politicians were younger versions of the real thing, greedy, manipulative and corrupt. Elections to student Council when I was there, bore the same elements as national elections. Election promises included better housing, access to clean water, better sanitation and a stop to the corrupt practices of the previous administration. They were tainted too, with murmurs of harassment, violence and corruption even within the election process.
Today’s University is struggling to cater to the very few students who despite the harsh realities of their lives persevere in trying to get a degree. The handful of lecturers who go without pay but still teach are ignored, mistreated and overworked. Times have changed from the glory days, when acceptance into the University of Zimbabwe meant that you had a place in Zimbabwe’s own Talented Tenth. Times have changed. The University has devolved from being a place of hope to one of suffering. But some things remain the same. The UZ remains a reflection of the society that we live in.