Bulawayo University students in spontaneous demonstration

By Lance Guma
09 November 2005

Close to 300 students at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo took to the streets in protest over meagre payouts and galloping inflation. Led by a Student Union President known only as ‘General’ Mataranyika, the students gathered at the Delta Theatre inside campus for what had been billed as a general meeting. Speaker after speaker blasted Robert Mugabe’s government for making Zimbabweans suffer from political and economic problems.

The meeting also urged students to attend MDC party President Morgan Tsvangirai’s rally in Bulawayo, which has been set for the White City stadium on Sunday. Soon after the meeting ended, Mataranyika is said to have urged students to vent their anger on commuter omnibus operators, accusing them of overcharging on the route to the university from the city centre. Students then left the theatre hall and went straight outside the campus to the transport ranks.

Students and commuter operators clashed outside leaving Gwanda road littered with sticks and stones. The Secretary General of the Students Union, identified only as Chiweshe is said to have sustained a bruised eye with several other students and commuter drivers also injured. Surprisingly the riot police were not called in to quell the riots. This might be due to the fact government has a sour relationship with the transport operators over commuter fares. Plain clothes policemen however were monitoring developments to ensure no one attempted to go into the city-centre.