ZINASU says 3 students murdered along Airport road Harare
By Lance Guma
30 July 2007.

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) claims 3 students from the University of Zimbabwe were murdered by unknown assailants along airport road in Harare’s Hatfield suburb. The incident allegedly took place Wednesday, but ZINASU was only recently able to piece the information together. One student died on the spot, while two others passed away the following day. A fourth student is said to have survived the attack but is in a coma and struggling for life in the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital. The victims were all coming from writing exams on campus in Mount Pleasant and fell prey to the assailants after failing to secure transport to their temporary accommodation in Hatfield. A new law slashing prices by half has decimated most business sectors, including the transport industry, and led many operators to withdraw their vehicles.

One of the students was buried over the weekend and a prayer service held for him at St Joseph’s parish in Hatfield on Sunday. ZINASU coordinator Washington Katema told Newsreel they are still trying to piece together details of the case and have already dispatched a team to try and investigate further. He said the students are currently facing accommodation problems after over 4000 were evicted from their halls of residence on the 9th July. UZ authorities have since defied a High Court order reversing the evictions.
Additionally, two student activists were abducted and tortured by military police over the weekend, for allegedly working with pro-democracy groups in the country. This happened in the same area the murders took place. Wellington Zindove and Innocent Kasiyano were picked up at the behest of an army captain attached to 2 brigade and detained at the army barracks in Cranborne, Harare. Although the cases are separate, the proximity of the incidents has raised eyebrows. The barracks are situated along the same airport road where the murdered students were found. Information gathered so far indicates that a Captain Danisa Mpofu personally led the assault and torture of the students who were being kept at the barracks.
Katema was part of the group but was not detained. He said the army captain instructed military police to arrest his colleagues because they were discussing the salaries of soldiers and police officers. This he said was likely ‘to cause alarm and despondency,’ the captain claimed. Lawyers Arnold Tsunga, Tafadzwa Mugabe and Tinoziva Bere, who are representing the students, have already filed a complaint at Braeside Police station. They also successfully secured the release of the students from army custody. Also caught up in the storm was the owner of a shop called Galactica, situated in the same area. He was arrested at the same time and tortured by the same Captain Mpofu over the weekend.

Meanwhile National University of Science and Technology Students Union President Clever Bere has released a statement saying the university has suspended 3 students for one year, and summoned 5 others to appear before a students disciplinary committee. Vivid Gwede, Kurai Hoyi and Samson Nxumalo have each been handed one-year suspensions after they were found guilty of inciting students to demonstrate.

The students describe the committee as a ‘kangaroo court.’ Bere, Mehluli Dube, Themba Mapenduka, Vanencio Jachi and Samson Nxumalo are the remaining five activists set to appear before the students' disciplinary hearing. Bere described the charges as ‘frivolous and vexatious and just meant to victimise those seen to be against the state and also to destabilize the students' movement.’