By Staff Reporter
FORMER cabinet minister and lawyer Tendai Biti has strongly condemned the arrest of six University of Zimbabwe (UZ) students who were detained Monday during a flash protest in support of their striking lecturers, describing it as a gross abuse of the constitution.
The students staged a demonstration demanding an urgent resolution to the grievances of their lecturers, who have been on strike for over a month. The lecturers are demanding a salary increase and improved working conditions.
The students were also calling on UZ authorities to postpone end-of-semester examinations, citing the ongoing industrial action, which has disrupted learning.
Six students were then apprehended by campus and state security officers, who later handed them over to the Avondale Police Station.
“The arrest of several students at the University of Zimbabwe in peaceful solidarity with their underpaid lecturers is a gross abuse of the Constitution.
“This regime has no care nor respect for constitutionalism and the rule of law. It is a pariah tin-pot republic without shame or honour,” Biti wrote on his official X account.
Tendai Biti
The six students were released after being charged with disorderly conduct and have vowed to challenge the charges in court, describing them as baseless.
“They took us to the police station, where we were released after being charged with disorderly conduct.
“We are going to challenge these baseless charges in the courts of law. The reason for our arrest is that we were demanding access to quality education from the UZ administration, which collected full tuition fees from students yet cannot provide learning services in return,” read a statement from the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU).