Zimbabwe student leaders held a crisis meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week after it emerged that 28% of students had dropped out of the country's leading university because of a lack of foreign currency to settle tuition fees.

The University of Zimbabwe opened on Monday but students have been struggling to raise fees of between US$300 and $1,500 in a country where the highest paid civil servant earns less than US$200 per month and unemployment is pegged at 90%.

Zimbabwe abolished the use of the Zimbabwe dollar in February last year at the formation of an inclusive government between long-time ruler President Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who is the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The United States dollar, South African Rand and Botswana Pula were declared legal tender. The adoption of the multi-currencies has been credited with reducing inflation from a world-record 231 million percent to just 7%. But it has caused major problems for students, who have struggled to find the required funds.

Some institutions of higher learning, such as Mutare Polytechnic College, have declined to release the examination results of students who failed to pay last year's tuition fees - a development that has affected an estimated 90% of its students.

The Zimbabwe National Students Union, Zinasu, confirmed last week that its leaders had held a crisis meeting with the Prime Minister and raised a number of issues.

Besides the problem of unaffordable fees, they discussed the continued victimisation of student leaders by the security forces, mechanisms and proposals to re-introduce the "learn now pay later scheme" to cater for underprivileged students, and the role of students in the constitution-making process.

Tsvangirai had "welcomed the issues raised and promised to look into the challenges even if it means sourcing international assistance," said Zinasu in a statement, adding that the union would "continuously follow-up on these issues to ensure that action is taken. The same issues will also been tabled with the Ministry of Higher Education in forthcoming meetings."

Zinasu also complained that the new semester had opened at the University of Zimbabwe with no students able to stay in campus residences due to lack of water and dilapidated infrastructure. Renovations are in progress. Last year the university was closed because of lack of water, prompting the United Nations Children Fund to drill boreholes.

Students have been forced to look for alternative accommodation off-campus, where many are living in squalid and grossly overcrowded conditions - as many as 56 in a house - posing health hazards, said the statement.

"The students cannot continue to be held at ransom and they have vowed to stage a massive demonstration until the halls of residence are opened," Zinasu added.


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