Bad politics has denied
students any open means of intellectual critical thinking to engage or behave
in any intellectual standard of behaviour over their welfare
 |
| Riot Police keep vigil at Evelyn Hone College (Picture: Zambia Watchdog) |
Students
at Zambia’s commerce and arts college Evelyn Hone on Thursday rioted burning
down six lecture theatres at the institution to protest over unfulfilled
bursary promises by government and poor sanitation.
Police
in riot gear raided the institution firing teargas and brutalizing the students
using buttons to quail the situation.
More
than 70 students were arrested and detained at the Central Police station that
shares the perimeter fence with the college on Church Road.
Government
confirmed that K540, 000 worth of property was damaged in the students’ riot.
The
Education Minister John Phiri has hinted that government suspect students were
being incited to riot by elements outside the institution.
The
students demonstrated against government’s failure to place them on bursaries
and improve the poor sanitation standards at the institution.
A
statement from the college spokesperson Mwelwa Mandona says management was saddened
by the conduct of the students.
There
was immediate outrage poured on all sorts of Facebook pages outright condemning
the students’ actions.
On
Zambia People’s Pact Walter Mwambazi, I presume a pastor of a Christian Church
asked:
“What is wrong with our students? It’s an "entitlement"
attitude behind all this mayhem...
I
do not sympathize with anyone who chooses to go and destroy public property in
the name of "making a point". Firstly this can only be perpetrated by
those who do not appreciate the cost of education."
Further
Mwambazi believes the students acted in that manner because they study on
government bursaries and “so they have no sense of responsibility! As
the saying goes, what you do not pay for, you cannot appreciate, therefore,
when you have an issue of any kind, resort to damaging property”. This
is an entitlement mentality, that as students and to a larger extent as a
nation, we are "entitled" to whatever we want, when we want it. I
refuse to have this mentality. Instead I have an attitude of gratitude that is
thankful for every opportunity, considering it a privilege to be utilized
fully."
Marie
Chibs called the students’ mayhem ‘childish’. “Infrastructure is quite
expensive to build. They burnt the building without thinking of the costs that
was selfish…”
She
suggests that as punishment, management must let them learn in the same classes
they
tempered with so that they see the nonentity of their reaction!”
Another
blogger, Emmanuel Tholosi, went straight to hit on the mob psychology of the
students, demanding “Destroy and pay back for rebuilding or repairing.
Individually they never destroy property from their home. But with mob psychic
they don’t treasure what other people hold dear.”
He
suggests that students find better ways of expression. “What about lobbying
MPs, appointment with ministers, National assembly, President, etc. Are there
no nonviolent methods of pressing for solutions in the heads of students?”
And
Christopher Hlupo Mavimba sees the action by students as a result of the
absence of
love of the country and lack of civilization among students.
“We
need to love our country if we are to see progress. The attitude of venting
anger on our national infrastructure should be dispensed with…Rome was
destroyed by such groups like the Vandals, Ostragoths and yet it was not built
within a day. It is a pity that vandals are produced in institution where
civilisation should start from.”
If
the thing is about these students acting in the riotous and destructive manner
as exhibited because their parents did not contribute anything, Brutal Journal feels we
should look deeper into this part of question to the whole problem.
Parents
do contribute to the improvement and expansion of this college through the fees
they pay and taxes. Do the students know this? They do. But what makes them to take
out their anger on being destructive? The answers are many, but it starts with
how an institution handles its problems.
Even
in a home, a couple will resort to fighting because of communication breakdown
and more so failure to contain the fighting tampers. This goes back to looking
at how this fighting couple engages in dialogue.
Let
us not rush to just condemn these students and think the authorities from the
concerned ministry to the lowest unit of leadership in the college have done
their part.
We
know that the issues raised by students are poor sanitation and a report that
they feel betrayed by their union leaders who mobilised students to support the
government move to scrap subsidies on fuel and maize. It is in the public
domain this was done so that the college would attract government sympathy to
address the two mentioned issues…bursaries and sanitation.
But
time has been running out, students felt misused and neglected. In the end they
have reacted in a violent way.
This
is called using power without love. It is justice without a sense of caring
about what belongs to society. This behaviour comes about because there is no
one to give space for those who are aggrieved to be properly listened to and
their concerns appreciated.
Remember,
government said it was removing subsidies to build infrastructure. Overzealous union
leaders used fellow students for political mileage into believing that their
concerns at the school would be helped out. Now that has not been forthcoming,
and the minister of education added salt to the injury by saying that Evelyn
Hone is not in the budget.
What
is surprising is how government has found money (about K500,000) to repair the
lecture theatres that students have destroyed within two weeks.
This
does not make sense in all places, not even in the first place. Why didn’t the
government respond to the needs of students much earlier than this if they had
money to spare? Now they need to do double jobs at double a cost, repair the
burnt down infrastructure and resolve the outstanding problems that led to the
riot.
Due
to this same negligence of always trying to mop after problems is costing the
country a lot of money.
If
it is politics that education minister John Phiri thinks is to blame for the
riots, the government equally shares its blame for bad politics…politics that
in such a broader society of citizens like Evelyn Hone decides that only one
political opinion of the ruling Patriotic Front must be heard. What happens to
others whose participation is suppressed? They seek the alternative valves of
voice, one of which is to become passive and the other is to fight. They
students chose to ‘fight’.
There
is much to this confusion at Evelyn Hone and all institutions of learning to do
with the failure to promote a civilized voice in politics—knowing that politics
is about issues of the citizens’ welfare, which affects all regardless of political choices.
Even
if one blogger. Tholosi, is suggesting that students must find some other
avenue of expressing their grievances through their elected leaders, the first
reaction from government
when such happens will be to accuse the students of
being influenced by the opposition.
 |
| Victim of political harassment: Clayson Hamasaka |
At
Evelyn Hone government already fired a journalism lecturer Clayson Hamasakawhom they accused of allowing UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema access to the
school, in the midst of a dysentery outbreak. Hamasaka is still being tormented
by the Patriotic Front who recently set police to search his home at 02.00AM for
drugs. Instead police ended up confiscating his computers and incarcerating him
overnight before being released without any charge.
You
cannot expect students to engage or behave in any intellectual standard of
behaviour over their welfare if the state denies them any open means of
intellectual critical thinking, which often takes the political form.
It
all boils to lack of well seated civic education programmes that can help
develop the civilized skills of engaging and seeking audience among themselves
with management and government.
Bad
political orientation is to blame. It
has done very little to promote among our young people the discipline of self
governance, required for people to set high standards of behaviour that makes
one to weigh their actions and consequences.
The
Patriotic Front has to break away from this legacy which has been perpetrated
over and over and over in succession by past governments.
NN
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