Zimbabwe students claim stake in upcoming national elections

Higher and tertiary education students in Zimbabwe have a real opportunity to make their mark in the 2018 harmonised elections on 30 July which pundits say will be heavily influenced by the youth vote.

Two of the country's leading student unions have since late last year been encouraging students to register to vote – and campaigning for leaders of their choice – in readiness for the general elections which will elect a president and members of both houses of parliament.

Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), arguably the biggest student union, has been running #StudentsDecide2018, a voter campaign launched last year in partnership with the European Union and the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network.

ZINASU Secretary General Ashley Pfunye said the campaign #StudentsDecide2018 was meant to encourage students to make the important decision to participate as they are one of the most vulnerable classes of society.

The union has also used the voter registration campaigns not only for voter education but to enable the students to engage political candidates in debates about challenges within higher and tertiary education, especially that of accessing education.

ZINASU said it is pleased with the statistics from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission showing that about 60% of the registered 5.3 million voters for this year's polls are young people between 18 and 40, meaning the polls will likely be influenced by the youth.

"It is a decisive vote that has an effect on the broader political discourse. It is a milestone election that we think will change our politics. Students are opinion leaders in their families and societies and … they will pay a major role in this election," Pfunye told University World News. "We are looking forward to seeing young hopeful presidential candidates, parliamentarians, councillors and a transformation of our people."

Pfunye said ZINASU expected the new government to decrease tuition fees as well as attachment fees.

"We also expect transformation of the academic space by having academic freedom respected. We expect decent accommodation. Generally, we expect reform and the independence of our education."

Pfunye said ZINASU was a non-partisan student body, therefore it was not rooting for any party or political candidate but supported any progressive political elements, which were not the ruling party Zanu-PF.

The Zanu-PF-aligned Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (ZICOSU) has also been actively conducting student conferences at tertiary institutions with key Zanu-PF politicians, where they have been enticing students to vote for the party and its President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

"We have been moving with various Zanu-PF politicians to create an opportunity and a bridge for young people to interact with those in governance, and also to sensitise those in leadership to understand the challenges being faced by young students in universities and colleges," ZICOSU President Takudzwa Gambiza told University World News.

He said through the student conferences, the union, which he claimed controlled 90% of the tertiary student representative councils, had managed to sensitise and convince most of the community to vote for Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF and he was very confident that the students would do so in their numbers.

Gambiza said the student vote was very important in the election because tertiary education students constituted arguably the biggest group among the youth and were opinion makers.

"If a student is in college, families look to them for answers and solutions to certain problems, so students, upon being lectured and understanding the dynamics of economics and politics, can influence the decisions of a very huge group among society."

He said ZICOSU is supporting Mnangagwa because he has been a friend of the students and frequently interacted with them before he became president.

"As a student body, we can't afford not to support him. We are going to support him because of his vision and commitment thus far in rebuilding the economy, and because of what he has done in the past for the students and what he has assured us [he will do]."

Higher and tertiary education students currently face high tuition fees, lack of infrastructure, poorly paid lecturers, misuse of student funds by politicians and lack of academic freedoms.

Since early this year, students at the National University of Science and Technology, Gwanda State University, Great Zimbabwe University and the Zimbabwe School of Mines have taken to the streets to protest over poor learning and living conditions on campus, maladministration, exorbitant tuition fees and inadequate infrastructure.