Zambezia (1993), XX (ii).THE POLITICS OF THE BODY ANDTHE POLITICS OF CONTROL:AN ANALYSIS OF CLASS, GENDERAND CULTURAL ISSUES IN STUDENT POLITICSAT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWERUDO B. GA1DZANWADepartment of Sociology, University of ZimbabweAbstractThis article examines the social, political and cultural self-representations amongstudents at the University of Zimbabwe, paying particular attention to the managementof these representations and some of the significant social and political eventsengineered by and affecting students. These representations are important as a meansof understanding the discourses of control between students of diverse gender, classand cultural backgrounds on campus. These representations are constantly beingmanipulated, contested and reworked in order to gain legitimacy in debates anddiscourses pertaining to student politics.IT IS IMPORTANT to understand the historical background to some of thepresent student struggles and initiatives. Gelfand (1978) and Cheater (1991)have written about the state's relationship with the university in the pre-and post-Independence eras, respectively. This article focuses rather onthe relationships between students of different class and gender andstudents' relationship with the state as reflected in their political inter-actions with it, pointing out some of the tensions and frictions that havearisen in the process of reconciling internal student politics with theirinteractions with the state at various times since 1980.The following account is based on my experiences as a student at theUniversity from 1976 to 1978, as a sub-warden of one of the femaleresidences from 1979 to 1980, and as a lecturer since 1983.THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTOF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEThe University of Zimbabwe was inaugurated as the University College ofRhodesia and Nyasaland under a Royal Charter in 1955. It became theUniversity College of Rhodesia in 1966 (after Rhodesia's Unilateral Declara-tion of Independence in 1965) and the University of Rhodesia in 1971. AfterIndependence in 1980 it was renamed the University of Zimbabwe. Althoughoriginally intended by Whites in Southern Rhodesia for the education of1516 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEWhites only, the University was established as a non-racial institution,partly because of the influence of the British colonial government whichoffered to fund certain developments.Student politics prior to IndependenceDuring the pre-Independence period the student body espoused diversepolitical beliefs and indulged in certain political activities, organizing andexpressing themselves on the basis of race and class. During the 1960s thestudent body was dominated by Whites. Most of the Black students wereof Peasant or working-class parentage and, as such, had few opportunitiestor higher education outside Southern Rhodesia. These students felt obliged«^°T* \f t.helr Studles so that thev couId secure employment and earnSS'SI. P SUPP°rt thCir famllies- ""«* were> therefore, in a dilemma:tha? JET ^r^6^ the disadvantages suffered by Blacks but knewSST JJ*01 1OSlng **** *"<* job opportunities if theyaCWVitleS On camPus (most of the University1 expenditure and student loans and grantsenuoot USSSSSS? Ł*>»<*« of the *ŽŽpamphleteering md^^ti^T^00*' Class *"*"***' Picketing,government. The Bkcksturi t °U?h dlPlomatic channels to the BritishPoliticians who visited the »n^» Ž° *Ž»n«trated against right-wingwere, generally speaklm* JT/m u Political activists on campusWhite cbmmuVc^prfsCb^"* I"6" "^ a sec«on of the liberalMost of the White student bodvw« "1 and female s**ff a"d students,against racism along with theT ffl^J1 TUlngto c°nmiit itself to strugglesmany of them regarded to£T£^?"amt* Ž* "beral Whit" asacism along with theT ffl^J Tgo c°nmiit itself to strugglesmany of them regarded to£T£^?"amt* Ž* "beral Whit" asto ^^WVerv fpwnu ,, omPetition for places atRUDO B. GAIDZANWA 17Among both Black and White students, women were perceived to beuseful supporting actors, an easily mobilized following who could beemployed in writing pamphlets and turning out for demonstrations. Womendid not generally feature as student leaders directing strategies andinitiatives in encounters with university and government authorities.Gelfand (1978,241) points out that there were bitter differences withinthe Black student body on the basis of affiliation for the two nationalistparties, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) led by Joshua Nkomoand the Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union (ZANU) led by NdabaningiSithole. These differences were sometimes transcended when studentsmanaged to co-operate in condemning government action in restrictingsome students, searching the homes of staff and students and deportinglecturers known or suspected to be sympathetic to the cause of Blacknationalism.The racial composition of the student body changed in the 1970s asthe war of liberation escalated. Black and White men left the university,either because they were expelled or because they were dissatisfied withlife under the repressive government regime. White men were increasinglylikely to be called up for national service before as well as after theiruniversity studies and every year's intake of Black students was depletedby an exodus of Black men who went to join the guerrilla armies. As moreBlacks qualified for university education, those Whites who could afford itopted to send their children to universities in South Africa, the UnitedKingdom or the United States. These changes in the student body alsochanged the tenor of student politics. The escalation of the war of nationalliberation also provided the impetus for more militant demands by Blackstudents while polarizing the different racial communities on campus.There were more demonstrations by Black students against racism andagainst the conscription of Black men to the Rhodesian Security Forcesafter 1978.During this period the leading political roles were the Derogative ofBlack male students who mobilized the Black women and non-militantmen to participate in political activities directed against the colonialregime. White and Asian students moved out of the political arena and theStudents' Representative Council became the preserve of Blacks, as didcertain clubs and societies on campus. During the 1970s White studentscontinued to control Rag activities which included soliciting money forcharity from the White and Asian communities. This situation continueduntil the early 1980s after which Rag was discontinued until 1993.Student politics after IndependenceBlack male students were firmly in control of both the StudentRepresentative Council and student funds by Independence in 1980. The18 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEfirst few years of Independence saw a continuing exodus of White studentsto universities in South Africa and a massive increase in the number ofBlack students. The ethos of the university changed as greater numbers ofpoorer Black students qualified to enter. The dominance of the Black andWhite middle-class students waned as the poorer students occupied morepositions in the student governance structures in halls of residence, thedepartments and faculties and the SRC. The University also strove toovercome its elitist bias and traditions in the curriculum and in academiclife. The politics of the SRC also changed: a 'honeymoon* relationshipexisted between the students and the majority-rule government. Thenuaenta poceived a mutuality of purpose between themselves and theŽ^? *£!TniTient- Thev adopted the language of the liberation warwhich ZANU(PF) was using, with some success, to censure and intimidateBlack, wh^ "2*° WCre nOt in favour of majority rule and to silence thosei ?5 reservftions about ZANU(PF)' i d il^ 2 nOt in favour of majority rule and to silence those?5 reservftions about ZANU(PF)', interpretation and imple-y ta gleh4POSt*dependenCe Ł**ŁŁ in t^ economy, polity andbetwSSen?TCSS2° *""** **"* ^*ter class differentiationtial directive Zt^ett^oni^T^ iniOativeinstituted byPresiden-decade of Independence^* ^StUdent Ł***Ł Bv the middIe of the firstattending unSJ~ the22T" °f "* °eW Black mlddie Cl&SS WCrewho had benemS from tne ^f1 °' ** P^3"^ and woridng ClaSSfacilities. Blackness rematatJT11 °f Primary and secondary schoolthe class divide although in th» Ji^L* factor in un*Ong students acrosspopulation which could be ,,l!rtabsence ot a White resident studentmisery the racial discourse onr!l <?unt«Pol8e and illustrate Blackon campus became more muted.residential status-nt DODlllatl»n -^ ..alreadymost students , " -»Ł»Š.- not. TheRUDO B. GAIDZANWA19Figure 1: STUDENT NUMBERS AT AND GOVERNMENT GRANTS TOTHE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE 1980-1993Student numbers1980 1961 1982 1963 1964 1985 1966 1967 198B 1969 1990 1991 1992 1993Qffi/evnment recurrent grants200-11960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 IMS 1967 1966 1969 1990 1991 1992 199320STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWETable IUNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE RECURRENT GRANT ANALYSIS, 1980-1993Year No. ofstudentsActualgovernmentgrant(Zt)Governmentgrant inreal terms(ZS)Actualper capitagrant(Zf)Per capitagrantin realterms (Z$)*Consumerprice indexbase year198&198019811982198319841985198619871988198919901991199219932 2352 45330803 6164 1314 74258666 8677 6999 2889 01786358385800010 985 00011725 00013 947 00016 867 00019 208 0002154100029 472 00040 447 00047 789 00054 162 00076 071 00092 000 000145 000 000185 000 000'" "**10 985 00010 515 69511366 74811289 82610 671 11110 979 10313 104 49115 949 13217 537 24817 619 38821 019 89520 282 18725 888 23428 461 538in4 9154 7804 5284 6654 6504 5435 0245 8906 2075 8318 43610 65417 29323 1254 9154 2873 6913 1222 5832 3152 2342 3232 27818972 3312 3493 0873 558100111,50122,70149,40180,00196,20224,90253,60272,50307,40361,90453,60560,10650,00capltaon the basis of theThis Table shows that there hasfunding from 8°v<*nment in^'ll up to i989 —,—2psingle occupation, double rooms were occupied^?. r°°mS intended forand even the common rooms were convertedy,three or more students^°"dlt°ns created an atmosphere conducivrStl?° hedro°^- Thesesymbols of social differentiation as both affluent ^ produc«°n of novelshare the same over-crowded facilities ^d poor s*"dents had toIn the first decade of the University Colleoe mhad been obliged to live in residence^because thStOftheBlack«udentsfrom residing in the White suburbs surround thlV Were legdllwas to live in the African TJ£Z%^"*« thoseRUDO B. GAIDZANWA 21White students who did not want to mix with Blacks any more than wasabsolutely necessary opted to live off campus. Thus the University Collegehad a large resident population because it was a non-racial, federalinstitution within a racist and class-divided society. The University ofZimbabwe also has a large resident population because it is a nationalinstitution which draws its students from all over the country.After Independence some of the factors that had led to the Whitesleaving the residences also affected some Black students. The crowdedresidences were considered uncomfortable by those students who enjoyeda higher standard of living at home. Some of these students opted to live athome rather than endure mass-prepared food, inadequate ablution facilitiesand students whose standards of hygiene did not match their own. Thosestudents who prioritized their freedom from parental control had to learnto cope with these discomforts. Naturally, the better-off students wereamong those who complained most about the residences and about thosestudents who did not clean up after themselves. These issues became acause of friction among students and more and more class differenceswere used to explain differences in habits.Many students (both male and female) want to live on campus becausethey desire greater freedom from parental control, to be sexually active,to consume alcohol frequently, and to behave in a manner that would notbe tolerated in their homes. Priority for residence accommodation isgiven to students who are in their first or final year of study whose homesare outside Harare, and to those who are disabled and have special needs.Therefore, students in their second year of study may find themselvesforced to find alternative accommodation. Some students take cheaplodgings in the townships, thereby saving money to buy books, clothes,or, in some cases, to support needy family members. Students fromwealthier backgrounds fare much better as their families, whether or notthey are resident in Harare, can assist them materially. It is important tonote that the university provides bedding and towels to students inresidence, that the dining-rooms and ablution facilities are cleaned dailyand meals are prepared and served by university employees. Thoughmass-cooking does negatively affect the quality of the food served in theresidences, it is obvious that resident students 'get a better deal' than thenon-resident ones.In addition, resident students are much better represented than non-resident. There is only one full-time warden for all 6 000 non-residentstudents while there is one full-time warden plus nine part-time wardens,three part-time deputy wardens, and 33 part-time sub-wardens to cater forthe needs of the 4 000 resident students. This staffing structure reflectsthe history of the University as an institution for resident students with asmall number of non-resident students living at home or in lodgings.22 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEEthnicityApart from the issues relating to residence, students are also divided onthe basis of ethnicity. Ethnic alliances, often coinciding with the ZANU/ZAPU divide, are strong, especially among those students who aspire topolitical office at University and after graduation. During student electionsthere is a section of the politically active student population whichmobilizes potential voters by appealing to their ethnic identities. Staff whohave acted as returning officers in student elections have observed studentpoliticians herding their constituents to polling booths to vote for them onthe basis of ethnic solidarity. Before proxy voting was prohibited it wasnot unusual for student politicians and their campaign managers to bringin piles of student identity cards from their ethnic 'kin', particularly women,who did not feel strongly enough about the elections to bother to votethemselves but were not averse to passively supporting their ethniccandidate by allowing him to vote for them by proxy.Class and genderThe 'nose brigade' students: In terms of social presentations of self thereare many differences in the ways in which students present and'definethemselves The middle-class students, most of whom have attended theGroup A schools (formerly Whiteonly schools), have access to the localand foreign media through television, radio and cinema and have disposableSothTna H t ""f*8? thCm tO WCar *** ^ally-produced and inSedcloth.ng and to enjoy local and foreign music and other cultural products.'Africa "7^ middle^lass female students to wear custo^adeMmmmw.m the clubs and societies that allow them to expr<2and to further their academic and future profession^ Catl~ ^dualityexample is the International Association ofsSS in S^ ***Management (AIESEC) which attracts a very active a!Om> Zf"** a"dwomen students, mostly those from the Grou?AS5oTffi£5* ^a board of adv,sers who are industrialists, financiers and man^letVhaSorganizes tours of other countries and exposes students tX^ *"d ttRUDO B. GAIDZANWA 23professional environments so that they can make useful contacts. Thesestudents are also active in 'non-traditional' (for Black Zimbabweans) sportssuch as hockey, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming and badminton.These students are stigmatized by the majority of students who call themthe 'nose brigade'. This is because their accent is said to resemble that ofWhite Zimbabweans whom Black Zimbabweans consider to speak throughtheir noses. (In fact, these students have different accents depending onthe nationality of their teachers and the nationality and preferred languagesof their parents.)'Severe rural background' students: In contrast with the middle-class studentsthere are those students who are the children of peasant farmers orworking-class parents who have been educated in the Group B schools(schools run by the government, missionaries or local authorities forBlack pupils). There is some stratification within this group: those studentswho normally reside in the rural areas with their families are referred to ashaving 'severe rural backgrounds' and are called 'SRBs' for short. Most ofthese students do not have much disposable income and rely on theirloans and grants to survive. They can afford only simple and inexpensiveclothes, usually Western in pattern and design, available in the chainclothing stores. Many of these students, especially the women, are veryretiring and shy and both sexes are considered unpolished, unsophisticatedand lacking in social graces by both the 'nose brigade' and the studentsfrom urban working-class backgrounds.The SRB men tend to divide into two camps: those who keep tothemselves and concentrate on their studies; and those that participatewith gusto in campus life and politics. The politically-inclined 'SRBs'capitalize on their status by presenting themselves as authentic Africans,unpolluted by urban norms associated with dishonesty and hypocrisy.They use this gambit to assert their legitimacy in campus politics as wellas in student struggles with the state.'Born location' students: The students from urban working-class backgroundsform a third bloc on campus. They do not suffer from the diffidence of the'SRBs' or the social stigma of the 'nose brigade' precisely because theyhave not been incorporated into either of these groups. They aspire to thematerial symbols of wealth possessed by the 'noses' but are not comfortablewith the cultural 'pollution' which they perceive to have afflicted them.The 'bom location' (so called because they were born in the Black locations)students might have attended either Group A or Group B schools but wereborn and/or brought up in the townships. They have adopted aspects ofurban culture with regard to their dress, choice of music and food andsocial habits. Most of them lack the means to join the middle-class until24 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEthey secure employment after graduation. These are the type of studentsmost prominent in SRC activities and who, together with the 'SRB' men,tend to monopolize the struggle against the state and the universityauthorities. However, many students (who are not SRBs) have privatelyindicated that the majority of the hooligans who form the core of theUniversity Bachelors' Association (UBA), which describes itself as 'themilitary wing of the SRC, are SRBs from mission boarding schools ratherthan 'born location' types.Relations between men and women of the same class background: Questionsof gender also feature strongly on campus among students with differentclass backgrounds. There is a large representation of female students inthe religious societies of the 'born-again Christian' type and both the menand women in these societies tend to be drawn from the SRB and 'bornlocation groups. They have very cooperative relationships with eachother although the men tend to take the lead in these groups The 'nose'men and women also get on fairly well with each other and the 'nose'SSirSioTh othZrs'efforts ln societles «* cl^sThe most^^m^Z^n^^l^^ *-«. -d to beSTATE INTERVENTIONS AND UNIVERSITY STAFF ^ STUDENTREACTIONS 1990-1992The Univerdty of Zimbabwe Amendmentmbabwe Amendment Arted to repeal the iof 1990) and the National SwJ^S?SS?n«^<N*21990). Cheater (1991) has docSJSd^j!! **??" Act <N°- 32 °fsurrounding the protests against stated , 7imk lssues and eventsat the University in l»n5£?££^j£?S£* Ł» ^neral and£2T *?beoutllnedheresin<*thifoSST9111^tothetwostudent confrontations on and off campuTin ^9L C°nte* of state"ent confrontations on and off campuTin ^9L C°nte* of state"^^n^fty2'?^^^ Chancellor,(after consultation with the Minister oTJgher Ed^atoJ* Vice^hancellor?JK?h Vic^hance"or the power to discipline *£? *he Council).S^T f?tifica«on of Coil) T lif *£*?« «ude"tsRUDO B. GAIDZANWA 25and from the technical and clerical staff from Council, reducing theirrepresentation from two to one, and makes the presence of three academic,administrative and workers' committees' representatives on Councilconditional on the Vice-Chancellor's approval: thus effectively questioningtheir status as elected representatives.The National Council for Higher Education Act established a Councilfor Higher Education which includes all vice-chancellors of all universitiesin the country but the majority of whose members will be appointed bythe Minister of Higher Education. The functions of the Council are: todetermine standards of teaching, examination and qualification ininstitutions of higher education; to determine admission procedures forthese institutions; to advise the Minister on the standardization of degreesand qualifications; and (most contentious of all) to advise the Minister onall applications to establish private universities or to revoke their governingcharters. This council, the majority of whose members are ministerialappointees who may or may not know much about higher education andwho are able to outvote the vice-chancellors, is in a position to determinewho shall be admitted to university, who shall be taught, and how theyshall be taught and examined in all institutions of higher education inZimbabwe. It is not surprising, therefore, that the whole university rejectedthis legislation totally and unreservedly.Before the Bills became law they were denounced by both staff andstudents of the University. In October 1990 members of the academic staffheld an illegal but peaceful demonstration at Africa Unity Square in Harareopposite Parliament buildings and handed a petition to the President'sOffice rejecting the Bills and recommending their abolition. Students werespecifically excluded from this demonstration in order to avoid the violencethat had been manifested in 1989 and 1990 and was becoming customaryin student demonstrations. Staff dispersed without incident after theirdemonstration. In November 1990 students boycotted lectures whichresulted in examinations being postponed. After the examinations hadbeen written and the students sent home on vacation government hurriedlypushed the two Bills through Parliament. This was a great disappointmentto the University community and created a great deal of apprehension asit was clear to all that 1991 was going to be a turbulent year.This was the context in which state-student confrontations took placeon and off campus in 1991. The politics of gender, class and ethnicity wereplayed out within the same context so there were many struggles andconfrontations that were necessarily subsumed in the state-studentstruggle. At times these other conflicts overshadowed the confrontationwith the state, while at other times the internal strife added fuel to theexternal conflict or changed its dimensions and its direction. It is to thegender and class dimensions of this struggle that this article now turns as26STUDENT POLIT.CS AT THE UN.VERS.TY OF Z.MBABWEconflict with the state.Hooliganism and gender politic* among studente themselves theByearty 1991 University of Zimbabwe students had earned thfm*eŽ* £reputation of hooligans among members of the public ^^fjjŽviolent incidents both within and outside campus. In ^nl,^l~~?!r!^in the government-controlled daily newspaper, The Herald, i«rerrea roaninternal, confidential, proctor's report which had been leakedI to theipress.In the report reference was made to the aggression exhiP«ea Dy mestudents towards each other, the sexual harassment of women on campus,the conduct of demonstrations, drunkenness, alcohol ab"*e' an anincident in which University of Zimbabwe students damaged propertyworth $10 000 while on a visit to Mutare Teachers' College and the sub-sequent expulsion of the Mutare Teachers' College SRC President becauseof his refusal to name the culprits. The response from the Universityauthorities is significant in that it did not attempt to deny the truth of thereport but protested that The Herald had not sought comment or reactionfrom the University before publishing the editorial and an accompanyingcartoon. There were several letters to the editor after this editorialdescribing indiscipline, drug abuse and disobedience at the Universitybut, in the context of the contentious University of Zimbabwe Act andNational Council for Higher Education Act, the University authorities werereluctant to give more ammunition to the government press by publicizingor admitting the extent of student violence on campus.Boycott of classes, April-May 1991Students launched a boycott of classes at the end of April 1991 to protestagainst the passing of the two Acts against the will of the Universitycommunity. The boycott lasted well into May after which dissensionamong the students crept in. The boycott was surprisingly peaceful andwas confined to the campus. By May some students wanted to go back toclasses, especially final-year students who were apprehensive about theircareer prospects if the boycott should precipitate a closure of the Universityor otherwise jeopardize their chances of graduating.A high-profile group advocating an end to the boycott was the wOmen.hockey team which wanted to compete in a hockey tournament In SUnited Kingdom. Their chances of competing were severely affectedthe boycott as it meant that they could not raise funds or preparecoursework before their departure. Hockey is played mostly by studefrom the Group A schools and the hockey team was identified as befcomposed of 'nose' women. They petitioned Council to institute an endRUDO B. GAIDZANWA 27the boycott through calling a referendum but before they could collectsufficient verifiable signatures Council itself called for a referendum. Aftera rowdy Union meeting, the SRC, recognizing that a referendum by secretballot might show the majority of students to be against a continuation ofthe boycott, called an end to the boycott. Another sign of student dissensionwas the suspension of the SRC President during the boycott. He wassubsequently reinstated.It is perhaps important to note in this context that there has beensignificant student apathy with respect to SRC elections in the last fiveyears (see Table II). Whereas prior to Independence the racial schism ledTable IIPERCENTAGE OF STUDENT BODY VOTING IN SRC ELECTIONSYear19891990199119921993Percentage voted26,127,333,125,838,1to block voting along racial lines, after Independence many students donot feel obliged to vote at all as many of the day-to-day issues affectingstudents cannot necessarily be resolved by the SRC. For example, hallcommittees deal with issues affecting life in the residences anddepartmental boards deal with academic issues affecting students. Studentsare represented at faculty level by their faculty representatives. It is onlyat Senate and Council levels that the SRC represents the whole studentbody. Thus students feel more able to influence decisions affecting theiracademic development at departmental and faculty level rather thanthrough the SRC which is associated with 'macro-polities', that is, students'relationship with the state. There has also been a differentiation of studentassociations by degree specialization in order to facilitate the effectiverepresentation of academic concerns by students within their departmentsand faculties. A good example of this phenomenon is the Faculty of Medicinewhose students live on a separate campus, have their own newspaper andeven their own student association. In addition some non-resident studentswho have to deal with transport and accommodation problems and asoaring cost of living feel that their concerns are not adequately addressedby an SRC whose members automatically qualify for residence. All thesedevelopments have led to the dilution of SRC power and control over thestudent body and a corresponding increase in students actingindependently of the SRC.28 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEThe aftermath of the boycott was characterized by intense discussionand dissection of events. Many students were unhappy about the intimida-tion that they had been subjected to by the pro-boycott group. In a letterto The Herald on 27 May 1991 a student chronicled the terror-tacticsdirected at the anti-boycott lobby by the pro-boycott hooligans. He alsodescribed drug-selling, rape and theft as being prevalent on campus.Divisions among the students were increasingly pronounced after theboycott with some students vowing not to take part in collective politicalaction in the future as a result of their experience of intimidation by the^f Action. The second term of 1991 started on a grim note with^ ?* tO Catch up on coursework. The University/, ** "° Ł"«««« would be made for time lost*f l"h durin*the graduation ceremony, theySZE^JS^to^T"0"to retjre-citing to°muchThis announcement ^ aWairs of the University as his reason,u^m^^^ to the Universityand that he would *£$£?£££ %££* » theS52SJ STS^?*September »Ł«Zimbabwe beauty contest^ thf p"* disruPted the Miss University ofdamage to University property £ H?** HaU and cau«ed $8 OOO-worth ofwas an objection to the $15 00 entJ^f process- Their reason for doing sobeen deliberately set by the nreri^ ^they ^^^ that this fee hadexcludeSRB students with uSdS?^ n°Se' or8anizers in order tothe antagonism between the 'nose^^lncome- ^^ incident fuelledmanvhof,!hose members of staff whoS SRB> students Žd alienatedSl^f Presldent issuedTa VSSSTT*"* ^cott. The sameS StUdents on campus id^lf^^g knowledge of rapesy xk Ł when the police har,^ ^Š^wucnnestuaemsH^6TZTment'S ""^-rtghts^ofat^"1 frOm demonstratingHeads of Government Meeting befJJJJKi u^."8 the. Commo"-Disturbances, May 1992Ł ne antagonism h<>>RUDO B. GAIDZANWA 29supplies had been looted Š allegedly by both the police and the students.It is true that some students destroyed cooking utensils, electrical appli-ances and food that was not immediately edible. The stores of wine in theSenior Common Room were looted and students were observed usingonions for footballs, pouring away cooking-oil and throwing away mealie-meal (which was in very short supply because of a disastrous harvest).Senate condemned both police and student violence. Staff condemned theviolence and were denounced by the SRC as reactionaries. On 16 Maystudents were granted a 25 per cent increase in their grants and lecturesresumed. On 26 May administrative personnel were held hostage bystudents because of delays in the pay-out. The next development was anannouncement of a 25 per cent increase in academic, registration andboarding fees which so enraged the students that they marched into thecity centre, chanting war songs. The demonstration turned violent whennegotiations with the Ministry of Higher Education took longer thanexpected and some students sexually harassed women in the streets ofHarare, hi-jacked trucks and cars demanding to be taken back to campus,assaulted members of the press and overturned government vehicles. Bythis unruly behaviour the students alienated a wide cross-section of thepopulace.In the wake of this violence the University authorities expelled allstudents and suspended the entire SRC. All students had to apply forreadmission, accept the 25 per cent increase which had already beenabsorbed by the increase in fees, and pay a fine of $80 towards repairingUniversity property. A very chastened student body returned to campusin July 1992. One member of the SRC was expelled and two were suspendedby a Student Disciplinary Committee. However, student hooliganismcontinued and tempers flared again in November in what has been calledthe 'mini-skirt incident'. This incident occurred just after the election of anew SRC and just before the start of the examination period. The new SRCwas, therefore, forced to deal immediately with problems inherited fromits predecessor and with disruptive student behaviour while it was itselfdisunited and disorganized.The 'mini-skirt incident' and its significanceThis incident occurred on 9 November 1992 when a Black Zimbabweanmodel visiting campus was attacked by a mob of about a hundred malestudents ostensibly because she was wearing a mini-skirt. She was rescuedby University security personnel, an official from the Students' AffairsOffice and two members of the SRC. The incident horrified most staff andsome students and was widely reported in the local and internationalpress. Two days later a general Students' Union meeting took place whichdid not even mention the attack on the woman. This deeply angered30 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEwomen students. At the Union meeting some students attempted to pass avote of no confidence in the Dean of Students on the basis that he had notsatisfactorily articulated student grievances to the University adminis-tration and had not issued a statement regarding the expulsion of the SRCmembers. The Dean was defended and physically protected by a group ofstudents who disagreed with the proposed vote of no confidence. Blowswere exchanged between the two factions and the meeting refused to passa vote of no confidence. The Dean was escorted from the meeting understudent protection.On 14 November the medical students issued a press statementexpressing disgust at the attack on the model and disassociating themselveswith it. On 18 November the opposition newspaper, The Daily Gazette,°S?1 i Vo'ence of the male students in a feature article and'! rlT"18 abuse of women °" campus. On 20 NovemberH fntS drCSSed in snorts and mini-skirts staged ao . f?'ng a PCtltiOn ***"* the Vice-Chancellor to take££^ "^ StUdCntS °n ^P"8- Th«e female studentsmale sTude^SJh **?"?** and threatened by a mob of over 500women wer?DSeV^UKf ^ °f bdn« Pollutes The demonstratingasTey ^SS^S^JZ^S^ " ^ "« * ^ "*> «"***national press who were coS thlT memberS °f the 1OCaJ md intCI"the women would be lyncheSwrl^ t£Ž?nUoa «Pressed fears th^them. It is to the credit of the^f^^tne mood of the mob followingthat the demonstration ended JitL » students protecting the womenflood of correspondence to tK* ot-These incidents unleashed aabout gender relationships on canWPr^erS,and much public debatetowards male university students!^ y ° fuelled publlc hostiIityissue. Most letters sun^StlKtoT* aUgned on both sides of themen, and most letters denouncing it w- °n the Woman were written bysupporting the attack defended the acHon T"**1 by women- StudentsAfrican, indecent and inappropriat^ %ZSaying that miniskirts were un-public justice'undertaken to correct an er7 cSttWei«« the action to beto The Daily Gazette went so far aJto^SS** slster- One contributorit must be respected and that respert fnH i" "Ot a fashion venue. thusRUDO B. GAIDZANWA 31terms and the University authorities also issued a statement condemningthe attack. The SRC, however, conspicuously avoided the entire issue. Aneditorial in The Herald pointed out that the very students who clamouredfor autonomy and academic freedom were the ones who were most willingto curtail other people's freedoms as evidenced in the attack on thewoman. The students had taken the law into their own hands and hadinflicted their choice of punishment upon her Š despite the fact that shehad broken no law. It is important to investigate the discourse withinwhich the attack is being condemned and defended.A question that first comes to mind is: why should wearing a mini-skirtbe seen as immoral in 1992? After all, mini-skirts have been around sincethe 1960s. Most of the 'born location' students have lived with femalefamily members who wore short skirts, tight jeans and shorts. Even oncampus, many of the 'nose' women regularly wear similar attire withoutbeing physically or verbally attacked. Secondly, why should the attackershave considered revealing Western clothing as incompatible with decencyin a Black woman? It is quite clear that the woman would not have beenattacked if she had been White. The Black men students, therefore, seemto have resented a Black woman's presentation of herself as a sexual beingin Western fashion (that is, by displaying her legs).The cultural argument was a convenient one for those defending theattack, despite its questionable validity. In pre-colonial Shona and Ndebeleculture women wore very short coverings and went bare-breasted, buthow can this mode of dress be resumed when ideas of sexuality havechanged? It is important to point out that in Western countries womenwear revealing clothes without being attacked. Obviously something hasoccurred to make the hooligan men bold enough to blame their lack ofself-control on the women they molest. In addition, the students did notquestion their mode of protest against the state as being 'untraditionaT.They used Marxist and Maoist slogans popularized by ZANU and ZAPUduring the war of national liberation, and even mimicked ZANU structuresby calling the UBA 'the armed wing of the SRC It is puzzling to find outwhat military tradition 'the military wing' was following since in bothShona and Ndebele custom men fought other men and not women inbattle.But perhaps the issue is not one of morality per se or of traditionalvalues but rather of one of control. The UBA was quite aware of 'tsdeclining control over the student body, the women's hockey team beinga case in point, and resented that fact. The 'debate' on suitable femaleclothing was, therefore, an attempt to reassert control over one of therecalcitrant sections of the student population, the 'nose' women. Thesewomen have a high profile in student life out of all proportion to theiractual numbers. They belong to the social class aspired to by the majority32 STUDENT POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWEof the UBA although they affect to despise it. It was not so much whatthese women wore but their self-confidence, their independence and theilunreliability as UBA supporters that had to be dealt with. The reclamation'of Black women did not mean including them in the moral community ofthe UBA and the hooligans but rather the reclamation of UBA power whichwas being broken by students who refused to participate in boycotts anddemonstrations. Those students who refused to cooperate with the UBAwere stigmatized as wanting to be like Whites: authentic Africanness, atteast among women, was equated with submission to male authority.Dissenting female students were to be forced to obey if they did not yieldto persuasion.v i*^?"* *** hooli«an elemen* and their supporters have adopted^l ^"T*1*8 Ol thC "*"* P^ tha^y ^ve criticized.> °rganlzed violence. Žd Particularly?T** StUdentS "« ******* to te militanti^t dOCUe and submis^e to male students" 3CCeptable to the UBA and the hooligan(e^tlTnoX^" noticeable is that whUestudent union (or r^^^SZ^JS^T* ^ tO'eranCe "*moving in the opposite direcHonT ! T }that Influences its agenda) isof difference in gender 2S and ^ * °f d&ding with th« complexitieshas chosen to iny tn^Werenc^an^01111113114 »«*in the uniO"artificial uniformity on all studente attempted to enforce an^Z:^^t^lt^ ? Š^ - <»«erenCement of sexuality on campus UnsS^ '*"** debate on th« n.anage-sexual harassment and ^SSffS^SSS^* m COmmon- ***a s^nificat b ^SiSSS /^nificant number of afoZftUtesInstead of di- rnHPfS> thC Pand fCONCLUSION. . "«»i ui 'cultural»aeas of modesty.RUDO B. GAIDZANWA 33questioning the validity of the Union's insistence on cultural labels sincemany of the students are of mixed ethnic and class backgrounds. Inaddition, Union slogans such as 'an injury to one is an injury to all' ringsomewhat hollow given the Union's reluctance to deal with the verbal andphysical injuries inflicted by the hooligan element on other students.Similarly, as the Minister of Higher Education (himself a student activist inthe 1960s) pointed out to the students in 1993 at a leadership seminar inKadoma, their use of the slogan 'the voice of the voiceless', which wascoined during the days of the University College before Blacks were en-franchised, is no longer appropriate now that the majority of Zimbabweanshave the vote and other forms of representation at local government andother levels. It is ironic that the voice of dissenting students is increasinglybeing drowned or silenced through violence and intimidation.The politics of intolerance and disrespect have pervaded many differentaspects of University life and this has led to the development of discoursesand struggles for control over the Union, the University buildings as wellas over social and political norms relating to dress and behaviour. Theresults are not heartening. The refusal of many young men to disciplinethemselves or to accept discipline, their lack of interactional skills, theirintolerance of other points of view and their refusal to concede their'rights' for the common good all create severe problems among theUniversity community. Somehow the University must address this problemand persuade all students that tolerance and respect for those of differentgender, class, ethnic group, religion or political opinion is a desirablequality. Unless these politics and control and intolerance are transcendedstudents cannot hope to be taken seriously by the majority of Zimbabweansfor whom they claim to speak. They cannot occupy the 'moral high ground'in their encounters with the state as long as their internal politics imitatethose of the government they so trenchantly criticize. It is only thosestudents who can understand and respect the complexities of identity,allegiance and existence in a community of scholars that can lead thestudent body into a more defensible position in its debate with the stateand to a more peaceful co-existence with the rest of Zimbabwean society.ReferencesCHEATER, A. P 1991 'The University of Zimbabwe: University, NationalUniversity, State University or Party University', African Affairs, XC,189-205.GELFAND, M. 1978 A Non-racial Island of Learning (Gweru, Mam bo Press).