US embassy cable - 03HARARE2143

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002143 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
DS/OP/AF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, ASEC, ZI 
SUBJECT: RIOTING AT UZ - DAY TWO 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
1.  (C) For the second straight day, police on October 28 
used tear gas to disperse crowds of students at the 
University of Zimbabwe (UZ).  UZ MDC coordinator Gift 
Nyandoro said that the student leadership requested a meeting 
with the Vice-Chancellor on October 28 to discuss the 
non-payment of the students' stipends called "payouts".  The 
Vice-Chancellor refused to meet, and students then attacked 
the Vice-Chancellor's car with sticks and rocks breaking all 
the windows and damaging it cosmetically.  Nyandoro estimated 
that about 1000 students went on to break other windows, and 
cause light damage to campus buildings before riot police 
arrived and dispersed them.  Nyandoro could not confirm 
whether there were any student injuries. 
 
2. (C) Nyandoro said that currently the payout is Z$331,000 
(US$58.58) per semester, which should have been paid at the 
beginning of the semester a month ago.  The students are 
demanding an increase to at least Z$500,000 (US$88.50).  The 
UZ administration has offered them Z$80,000 total; the 
students have refused and nothing has been paid.  The 
students complain that they are hungry and need the payout 
for basic expenses like transport and food. 
 
3. (C) The student leadership distributed flyers in which 
they paraphrased President Bush saying, "we will not 
discriminate between terrorists and those who harbor 
terrorists" referring to the UZ administration as terrorists. 
 The flyers also proclaimed a "Jihad" against the UZ 
administration--a borrowed term which Nyandoro said they used 
to express the depth of their anger and commitment. 
 
4. (C) COMMENT: Although this is the second day of rioting at 
UZ we do not anticipate events there to spiral out of 
control, or spill into other areas of Harare.  The 
environment here is complicated by widespread discontent over 
economic hardships.  There have been a various protests in 
recent weeks: ZCTU, NCA, UZ students, UZ faculty; even nurses 
went on strike this week demanding higher salaries.  However, 
these protests are uncoordinated, and the opposition MDC, 
though generally supportive, has not stepped into any 
coordinating role.  The GOZ tends to use just as much force 
as is necessary to quash dissent, but if these small-scale 
protests continue, the GOZ could react more harshly. 
SULLIVAN