Bank offers air ticket loans for students stranded abroad

Zimbabwe’s CBZ Bank has established an ad-hoc loan facility to give families with students studying abroad – both self-funded and on government scholarships – the wherewithal to repatriate them.

The loan system, announced recently by the Zimbabwean cabinet, means that families or parents of the students can borrow money from the bank to purchase a one-way plane ticket.

Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Ambassador James Manzou told University World News that his ministry had approached the CBZ to provide the facility.

He said parents or relatives of the students must approach the CBZ to reach an understanding with the bank.

“I can’t give you finer details of the loan facility at the minute, but the size of loan would depend on the cost of the ticket and the guarantee a family can give to the bank about their capacity to repay the money,” he said.

Matilda Nyathi, CBZ group executive, marketing and corporate affairs, would not immediately confirm the facility when approached for comment.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would not say exactly how many students wanted to come home or give an aggregate figure of the number of Zimbabwean students studying in foreign countries.

However, last Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo told the parliamentary portfolio committee on foreign affairs that 2,600 Zimbabweans, among them students in China, India, the United Kingdom, some parts of Europe, the United States, South Africa and Botswana, were stranded and had approached its embassies for assistance to come back home.

“We have many students who are on government scholarships who have registered to come back home as well as other citizens who were out on private business but can no longer pay for the tickets,” said Moyo.

“We have got this situation where we have a lot of students stranded in China and the plan is that we have got to evacuate them. We have tried to say that we [would] buy them air tickets, but I understand Ethiopian Airways has just increased its price. The last was going for US$5,000 for one and that becomes a challenge,” he said.

Moyo said that due to the government’s financial constraints, most of the stranded students and nationals would have to pay for their tickets through the bank loan government has structured with the CBZ.

On why government had come up with the facility, Ambassador Manzou said: “We are exploring various avenues to assist the interests of our people abroad, especially those who are interested in coming back home because they may be stranded where they are. It is our concern and we have to explore various ways to make sure we are of assistance to our nationals.”

Most airlines worldwide are still grounded after government-imposed lockdowns. Those that remain in operation have hiked fares on the back of demand for air travel.