Published by the government of Zimbabwe
7 May 2009
Harare — GOVERNMENT has started drilling six boreholes at the University of Zimbabwe to solve water problems and ensure the institution opens.
Addressing journalists yesterday, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Stan Mudenge also ordered the National University of Science and Technology not to stop students who have not yet paid their fees from writing examinations.
Minister Mudenge said the drilling was expected to be complete in two weeks.
"As you are aware, the university failed to open solely due to water problems at the complex. Opening the complex with problems still dogging the institution would have been an invitation to disease outbreaks," he said.
Efforts to rehabilitate boreholes at the university, Minister Mudenge said, hit a snag when it was discovered that they had been contaminated with sewage.
He assured students that the institution would be open as soon as water was available.
"We have made water provision, the first priority according to the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme and while we regret the inconvenience caused we want to assure parents and students that we would provide water at UZ within two weeks," he said.
Minister Mudenge said Government was also working flat out to address the plight of staff, both teaching and non-teaching.
"Conditions of work are our second priority in STERP and we are pushing for the improvement of the situation at all our universities.
"We are also working with the Ministry of Finance to see how much they can give the ministry for these projects," he said.
Minister Mudenge said Government was also concerned with reports that some students have failed to write their examinations after failing to pay fees.
"There are reports that some students failed to write their examinations and as Government, we would want to urge all State-run institutions including colleges to allow students to write their examinations.
"All students should be able to write their examinations after completing their semesters as there are provisions that institutions can hold on to results until payments are made," he said.
The conditions, Minister Mudenge said, apply to both students paying their own fees and those on Government's cadetship programme.
"Students who pay for themselves should be allowed to pay before they get their results while Government would pay anything that is owed by students on cadetship," he said.
The UZ failed to open for the first semester because there was no water. Minister Mudenge said the other eight State universities were running.
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