Students fined for destruction of property during protest

Students at the Copperbelt University (CBU) in Zambia have criticised the university’s decision to levy a blanket fine on students following the destruction of property at its Riverside campus during violent student protests earlier this year.

The fine, which the university is calling a ‘surcharge’, is due to be paid by all students at the Riverside campus, regardless of whether or not they participated in the violent protests that took place on 22 July. The university has five campuses.

In October, the university’s administration instructed students to pay a fine of ZMW1,500 (roughly US$56), cautioning that failure to pay will result in a student being blocked from accessing their results. The fine, however, has since been revised downwards to ZMW1,000 (roughly US$37).

Former president of the Copperbelt University Students Union Bright Ngalamika has called the blanket fine “unfair”, and many students have shared similar sentiments online. Some say they are unable to afford the additional fees.

Internal memorandums

Soon after July’s violent student protests, University World News contacted the registrar at CBU, Helen Mukumba, seeking to find out if students would be ordered to pay blanket fines, as the university has a history of fining all students if property is destroyed during protests.

Mukumba declined to comment, saying that University World News would get information on the matter from the administration’s official communication with students regarding the issue.

The official communication, via an internal memorandum, was issued only on 2 October. Part of the memorandum read: “I write to inform all students learning from this campus that management has considered the damage that was done [during the protests] and the loss of stock and business from the various claimants. Management has decided to levy a surcharge of K1,500 on each student.”

Students reacted to the internal memorandum by pleading with the administration to lower the fine. On 8 October, the administration issued another internal memorandum saying it had lowered the fine to ZMW1,000. However, some students are against paying the fine altogether and have taken to social media to vent their frustrations.

‘An unfair fine’

Ngalamika said the blanket fine was unfair because it was being imposed on everyone, including students who had nothing to do with the July protests or the destruction of property. He said that some students live off campus and were not even at CBU when the protests took place, which was during the night.

“[Since] the school does not have a proper mechanism to identify the students who were there [at the protests], everyone pays for the sins committed by just a small portion of students,” said Ngalamika. “So, on that basis, I would say a surcharge isn’t fair to students who didn’t participate [in the protests].”

Aston Zulu, a second-year law student, echoed Ngalamika’s sentiments. He said: “The ‘surcharge’ is not fair to the student community because a lot of people who do not participate [in property destruction], the innocent ones, pay for something they have not done.”

The blanket fines should not remain part of university policy, he went on to say. “The university or government should find a better way of avoiding these riots and, where culprits have been identified, punish the culprits rather than punishing everyone,” added Zulu.

No money to pay the fine

Zulu said he doesn’t have the money to pay the ‘surcharge’. He said the decision by CBU to fine all students at his campus is “putting pressure” on him and his parents. Zulu is not the only one in this predicament.

Many students are complaining in social media posts seen by University World News that they do not have the money to pay the fine.

Last time students were told to pay a similar blanket fine, Ngalamika and his colleagues had to raise funds on social media for students who did not have money to pay the fine. Failure to pay the fine at that time, said Ngalamika, would have resulted in students not being able to sit for exams.

“A few students have the money and come from wealthy families, but there are some who can’t afford to pay the surcharge; that’s the most unfortunate part,” Ngalamika told University World News.

He urged students to refrain from damaging property.