Militia enrolment in media school has caused exodus of lecturers
By Violet Gonda
17 November 2006

The government is extending its control of the media by forcing the largest journalism school in Zimbabwe at the Harare Polytechnic, to enrol students who have undergone National Youth Service training. This has reportedly been happening for sometime and has resulted in the exodus of lecturers from the department of mass communication.

Sandra Nyaira, the Co-ordinator of the exiled journalists network in the UK, said it’s not only the journalism school, but many institutions of higher learning that have been ordered to give priority to these students. The National Youth Service indoctrinates students in camps set up by the government.

She said this has had a negative effect on the standard of education as under qualified youths are enrolled in these tertiary institutions. Good lecturers are leaving their jobs because of intimidation as so “many eyes” look at them in the classroom.

Nyaira said lecturers in the Mass Communication department left because they felt they could not teach or talk openly. She added; “Trying to teach about the contemporary issues that are happening around them was actually putting their lives at risk. I know one of the best broadcast lecturers is now in America. Others are in the UK. I can talk about so many others who have left because they can’t take it anymore. Some are just basically in Zimbabwe not doing anything or preferring to do something else.”

One of the lecturers reportedly said; “I have taught so many students over the years and I knew in our classes we had CIO’s… but nothing that happened at that time could actually make you worry… but now it is actually difficult. It is a different ball game altogether. People are scared. They don’t know who is taking notes, who is reporting on who.”
The news comes in the wake of other reports saying graduates of the government’s controversial youth militia programme will be drafted into the civil service next year. It’s believed the youth will be employed as government youth development officers and stationed in all provinces of the country.
Although the government has said the youth centres are meant to instil discipline and patriotism, over the last few years the notorious youth militia have been widely known to wreak havoc on people. They have been used in most parts to beat, harass, torture and murder opponents especially towards the run up to elections.
It is the same graduates who were deployed in Bulawayo recently under an operation code-named “Operation Sunrise Two” to enforce price controls on selected basic commodities. According to the news website Zimonline hundreds of youths recently unleashed a reign of terror in Bulawayo beating up and harassing businessmen and informal traders whom they accused of inflating prices in a bid to sabotage the government. The news site said the crackdown by the youths comes a few weeks after Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu threatened to crack the whip on businesses for hiking prices without government approval.