Bulawayo colleges resolve to campaign against senate elections

By Lance Guma
11 November 2005

Student representatives from four colleges in Bulawayo met at the local Polytechnic Thursday and resolved to campaign against the November 26 senate elections. Hillside Teachers College, Bulawayo Polytechnic, United College of Education and the National University of Science and Technology were all represented at the meeting.

Although tensions in the region are high over a split in the opposition regarding participation, the student leaders who met were unanimous in rejecting the idea. They described the senate project as ‘an old peoples home’ and that the opposition had no business entering such a trap.

Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme who attended the meeting told us that the various leaders in attendance took turns to condemn politicians who are playing the tribal card in the senate campaign. They agreed there was no room in the country for such backward thinking. The meeting however drew a line on the position of the students who said they would campaign massively against participation and that union members were being mobilised to attend Sunday’s White City rally set for Bulawayo. Morgan Tsvangirai is taking his boycott message to the city in what many consider a tricky assignment.