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Zimbabwe: Ten 'MDC' students kicked off presidential scholarship program
7th October 2009
Ten Zimbabwean students at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa  have been kicked out of a Presidential Scholarship Fund, for allegedly supporting the MDC. (Pictured: Fort Hare University) The programme is meant to assist under-privileged students, using taxpayer's money, but has been dogged over the years by accusations of being politicized in favour of beneficiaries aligned to ZANU PF. The MDC South Africa spokesperson, Sibanengi Dube, told Newsreel that 10 of the students had been elected as office bearers in the MDC local branch structures, but were subsequently booted out of the scholarship programme. To compound matters, another 10 students who participated in distributing MDC t-shirts and other party regalia, have been notified their funding will be withdrawn. Dube told us; 'As I speak to you there is a real risk that by the end of the semester 20 students will have been struck off from the scholarship programme.' He said the MDC provincial leadership was dispatching a delegation to have meetings with the Vice Chancellor at the university and also to meet Zimbabwe's Ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo. "We will appeal to the ambassador to have a fatherly approach to this matter,' Dube said.
Last month 3 students under the same scholarship programme were thrown out for allegedly saying 'bad things about Mugabe'. Manicaland governor Chris Mushowe, who is the Fort Hare Scholarship Programme executive director, wrote a letter to one of the students, Tonderai Kunyaye, accusing him of refusing to submit his results to the sponsor. But on Tuesday Dube told us the minister's argument was null and void, as it was not the responsibility of the students to provide results to the sponsor. He said parents or sponsors could easily get results from the university if they wanted. The letter to Kunyaye was also addressed to the university registrar and went on to say the student 'has been broadcasting hate, malicious and defamatory propaganda through self-made music, postcards and addresses to other students in and outside your university. Mushowe claimed this had 'elicited malicious controversy around the patron and sponsor of this programme (Mugabe).'
More worrying for Kunyaye were demands that he surrender his study permit and return to Zimbabwe to 'assist' authorities there to substantiate claims 'contained in tapes and reports'. He was told that failing to do this would mean he (or his guarantors) had to reimburse what the government had paid for his education, under the sponsorship program. Kunyaye vowed to clear his name saying, 'I am a victim of this unjust and very oppressive type of autocracy.' He added that he was prepared to give a testimony at any platform and that they were being politically victimized. The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum in South Africa has been helping Kunyaye fight his case. Newsreel spoke to Programme Manager Eddie Matangaise and he confirmed Kunyaye approached them for help. He provided the organization with all the documents pertaining to the case, including the letters from Governor Mushowe. Newsreel has been told there is not much the University of Fort Hare can do about the funding situation of the students, given that it's the sponsor who has withdrawn funding in these cases.  Students interviewed at the university said there were known ZANU PF 'functionaries' operating on the campus and supplying information on what students were doing, especially those on the scholarship programme. Dube told us they will have a response from the university by Friday and will then decide what to do next.

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