Police in Harare on Monday arrested and assaulted 11 students from Belvedere Teachers College Morgan Zintec Teachers College and who were protesting (at the former) over the decision to block them from accessing the campus before paying their tuition fees.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the students were initially held at Milton Park police station before being transferred to Harare Central police station.
Lawyers Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Paidamoyo Saurombe both from the ZLHR are representing the arrested students. ZLHR said in an alert on Twitter:
Today, the week commenced with our lawyers @TinasheChinox & @PaidaSaurombe searching for & locating 11 student teachers who were rounded up at Belvedere Technical Teachers College & detained at Milton Park Police Station.
The 11 are being transferred to Harare Central Police Station & some of them are nursing injuries after they were severely assaulted. More details to follow…
The student teachers from Belvedere Technical Teachers College & Morgan Zintec Teachers College were arrested for allegedly protesting against the fees’ hike & for not being allowed access to campus if one hasn’t paid the fees in full. The students are due to write exams in October.
At Harare Central Police Station, ZRP members charge 11 student teachers with disorderly conduct in a public place as defined in section 41 of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform) Act. the 11 student teachers are represented by @PaidaSaurombe & @TinasheChinox of @ZLHRLawyers.
The students at Belvedere Teachers College were complaining that they don’t have money for school fees since they were asked to pay HEXCO fees separately which in previous years was paid as part of tuition.
Now HEXCO (Higher Education Examinations Council) fees are pegged at ZWL$15 055 while fees for this month were set at ZWL$16 000.
The students from the two institutions were planning to march to Higher Education Minister Professor Amon Murwira’s offices to register their concerns.