Student expelled for recruiting others into activist union

One student was expelled and four other members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union were suspended from Midlands State University following accusations by the university’s administration that they conducted “unsanctioned” recruitment of students to their organisation.

Takunda Mhuka was expelled following a disciplinary hearing that started on 12 March. The disciplinary hearings of the other students are ongoing.

Part of the suspension letter for Mhuka, which was issued before his expulsion, read: “I hereby suspend you from the university on allegations of misconduct where it is alleged that you and fellow students, Nester Moyo, Tanaka J Sibanda, Fanuel Gona and Keegan Mathe, conducted an unsanctioned recruitment drive of members of your union …”

The letter cited the contravention of sections of the MSU Rules of Student Conduct and Discipline of 2014. It was dated 25 February and was signed by MSU’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Victor Ngonidzashe Muzvidziwa.

Thrown out of school at 3am

Speaking to University World News, before his expulsion, Mhuka said he was evicted from school at 3am after security personnel were given his suspension letter. Said Mhuka: “I don’t know how they security [personnel] entered my room, all I know is the next thing, they were shaking me, saying: ‘Wake up!’.”

The security staff told him they had been ordered to evict him from campus: “They [security officers] handed me the suspension letter and I said I needed to contact my lawyer before I can sign this suspension letter.”

But the security officers proceeded to confiscate his phone and student identity card before they packed his belongings and stuffed them into a waiting van, Mhuka said, adding that the security personnel dragged him to the van after he refused to vacate the premises without first talking to his lawyer.

“They took me to the address that I gave the school when registering, which is my rural home in Wedza, Mashonaland East province,” Mhuka said. “They only gave me back my phone when we arrived at the rural home, in front of my parents.”

Mhuka said his father, who understands “the struggle for democracy” in Zimbabwe, was sympathetic to his cause while his mother was stressed that he was going to miss school following his suspension.

‘No administrative justice’

The Zimbabwe National Students Union spokesperson, Lifeline Gutu, said there was no administrative justice at MSU. Referring to the fate of the five students, he said MSU was disregarding the principles of justice and “failing to offer the students even a chance to a fair hearing”.

Said Gutu: “The disturbing part is that the said students simply conducted a recruitment on behalf of the union [ZINASU], embracing new students and giving them a chance to exercise the constitutional envisaged right of freedom to associate.

“The MSU administration has allowed ZANU PF [the ruling party] youths to parade the institution’s streets, even chanting political slogans. However, for other students wearing ZINASU T-shirts, MSU authorities pound on them and suspend them without a hearing.”

Gutu alleged that, in an environment where democratic spaces are continuously shrinking, “tertiary institutions like MSU have become havens of oppression”.

“Instead of being a beacon for academic freedom as one of the country’s well established tertiary institutions and promoting progressive democracy,” claimed Gutu, “MSU has become an extended hand of state authoritarianism.”

A history of clashing with authorities

The Zimbabwe National Students Union has a history of having frictional relations with university authorities and the government.

In 2003, ZINASU was awarded the student peace prize “for their long and hard struggle for basic human rights under [the late former president] Robert Mugabe’s dictatorial regime”, according to the European Students’ Union.

Members and leaders of the organisation are often suspended from school and arrested by the government for organising university or national protests.

This news report was updated on 15 March.