Mugabe helps 25 000 students

At least 25 000 underprivileged Zimbabwean students have benefited from the Presidential Scholarship Scheme since its inception 20 years ago, a Cabinet minister said yesterday.

Scholarship director and Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Christopher Mushohwe told delegates to the University of Venda Zimbabwe Alumni Chapter launch in Harare that the programme had uplifted many families and communities.

He said 60 percent of the country's prosecutors and magistrates are products of this initiative, which is a brainchild of President Mugabe.

"In 1994 when President Mugabe went to join the people of South Africa in celebrating their freedom, he spoke to the new President, Nelson Mandela about sending Zimbabwean students to study at Fort Hare University where the two were former students.

"The programmes started a year later with only 15 students, who we all sent to Fort Hare for studies in different fields.

"As the programme continues to grow, we are sending 240 students every year to the university (alone). More than 60 percent of the prosecutors and magistrates we have in Zimbabwe were developed through this programme.

"To date, we have 25 000 students who have gone through this programme, most of them would have never had such an opportunity. Imagine the multiplier effect this has had in uplifting families, communities and the Zimbabwean societies at large."

Minister Mushohwe said problems started during the inclusive Government era.

"The Finance Minister (Tendai Biti) then began using the portfolio as a political tool and refused to fund the programme in a bid to embarrass the President under the pretext that Zimbabwean students under the programme were suffering in foreign lands.

"The President began sourcing monetary support from friends of the programme. This of course created a situation where we were not able to pay up all the fees."