ZINASU PLANS ON TAKING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST HIGHER AND TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS.

BY ILYANA Sithole, ZIMBA WAVE MEDIA, HARARE
ZINASU plans on taking legal action against higher and tertiary institutions.
Higher and tertiary education students have timeously come together to fight for their right to education. Across the country students are lamenting over the current imposition of USD fees only and point out that it does not sit well with them because of the current economic hardships.
Students feel threatened that the move is a barrier to their right to education. As a result ZINASU President Emmanuel Sitima called upon fellow students to come together and fight against what he say is “commercialization, commodification and privatization” of education.
In his post on X Emmanuel Sitima says, “on our shared path to academic freedoms, we challenge the fiscal indiscipline as it is a exclusionary practice which seeks to kick the son/daughter of a civil servant, vendor, housemaid and a peasant out of campus”.
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is an organization that mobilizes, serves and represents students in all spheres of interest. Through their legal representation Kossam Ncube and Partners they took to pen and paper and highlighted their grievances.
At the moment most institutions have pegged their tuition fees in USD and are refusing ZWL despite the government policy which allows students to pay in local currency. Last year the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education gave universities and colleges permission to peg fees in USD but also allow the students to pay ZWL.
A part of the letter reads, ” Your accounts department has been issuing invoices exclusively in United States Dollars and has provided only a USD account for payment of fees, requiring that payment through the bank can only be made into that account”. Where in August last year the ministry emphasized the use of the weaker but more accessible RTGS dollar.
The Exchange Control Act of the Finance Act chapter 22:05 recognizes the Zimbabwean dollar as the official tender which should be used.
“The position they have taken is that they are not accepting payment in Zimbabwean dollars. In essence your institution is essentially requiring payment of fees in US dollars contrary to the laws of the land”
Education is a right that no one can infringe for one who wishes to become educated for future exposure to better oneself. Emmanuel Sitima says, “it is not beyond our power to demand what is rightful ours. Education remains a fundamental right and any attempt to thwart the same is a direct call for resistance…”.
In previous years “resistance” by students has never ended well for the student body. Last year in May six students from the University of Zimbabwe were arrested.
The denial of local currency payment affects the students and those who pay their fees who are mostly civil servants and receive salaries in local currency.
Joining arms with  The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) and Female Students Network Trust (FSNT), the student bodies wrote a statement to government bodies requesting they make institutions take heed of Ministerial directive and comply with the nation’s fiscal policies.