Six student leaders arrested during opening day demonstrations at the University of Zimbabwe

By Lance Guma
27 February 2006

Six student leaders from the University of Zimbabwe were arrested on Monday after allegedly leading a demonstration on the opening day of the new semester. The group, which includes Secretary General Mfundo Mlilo, Zimbabwe National Students Union president Washington Katema, Wellington Mahohoma, Collen Chibango and two others, were picked up by riot police and taken to Harare Central Police Station. Mlilo who spoke to Newsreel from the charge office said the police were likely to detain them over night. After police asked him to stop talking on his mobile phone he kept the line open to allow a recording of the conversations inside the police station.

Some of the students can be heard pleading to have one of their colleagues, Mahohoma taken to hospital for treatment after receiving a beating from the police officers. Arresting officers allegedly struck him on the jaw with clenched fists. In the audio recorded by Newsreel, Mahohoma says he felt like he had burst an eardrum. The officers on duty however can be heard insisting on taking him to the cells despite the possibility of his injuries being serious. Their lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe confirmed the arrests and says his clients have been moved from Harare Central to an unknown location.

Despite the secret relocations, their lawyer suspects they have been taken to the notorious Mbare Matapi Police Station known for its filthy and unsanitary cells. The police are also refusing to disclose what the charges are and have told their lawyer that they can hold the students for 48 hours without charge. It’s also not clear which arm of the police carried out the arrests as neither the Operations nor the Law and Order sections are taking responsibility. Their lawyer says his clients were arrested on the orders of UZ campus security even though they were ‘only marching to the offices of the Vice Chancellor to have dialogue with him.’

The University opened Monday and just as the students had threatened, they demonstrated against the massive tenfold hike in tuition fees. Students at the country’s universities and colleges now have to fork out Z$35 million per semester as opposed to the previous Z$3,5 million a year. They say support grants of Z$11,5 million per semester fall far short of their requirements and say the government should revise the new tuition fees.