A sizable number of students who graduated from Zimbabwe’s public universities have last staged a peaceful protest at the National Legislative Assembly Headquarters in Juba.

The move was an attempt to compel the government to clear academic fee arrears it owes the government of Zimbabwe through State universities.

Nearly 200 students who graduated from six Zimbabwean State Universities and returned to Juba in 2018 are still without their academic papers as their former respective institutions continue to withhold certificates and transcripts over fee arrears worth above $2million.

How it went wrong

In 2015, the government received scholarship offers from Zimbabwe and nearly 200 students got admissions into varying faculties at the Zimbabwe’s State-affiliated institutions namely; Great Zimbabwe University, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Midlands States University, National University of Science and Technology, Harare Institute of Technology, and University of Zimbabwe.

With an entitlement to $100 monthly stipends, fully paid accommodation, catering, and tuition fees, the government was able to cater for the scholars for only two semesters as economic downturn catapulted home in the wake of the 2016 political turmoil.

In the same year, things went sour. The monthly stipend was, without any formal communication, withdrawn from the students in a country where inflation rate surpassed 100% at the time.

Realizing the financial woe which would follow, the South Sudan Government signed a memorandum of understanding, which would allow uninterrupted access to university facilities as the Juba administration settles arrears on instalment.

The crisis dug deeper in the following two successive years. The government defaulted on the fulfilment of the signed MoU, leading to the accumulation of unprecedented debts amounting to over $2.5 million. Three Zimbabwean State Universities were compelled to eject South Sudanese students out of their premises.

As this eventually became a norm, the South Sudan Embassy in the capital Harare became the only safe havens and a place of refuge for the students each time their institutions asked them to vacate the premises over fee arrears.

The Education Attaché at the embassy always replied through formal letters requesting those institutions to give students a second chance as the government at home works to settle arrears. That strategy only worked in 2017, however, as the institutions which were also cash-strapped desperately needed financial bailouts.

How Juba responded

“The economic situation is unfavourable back home”. That has been the conventional response from the government in Juba until in late 2018 when a letter purportedly approved by President Salva Kiir to resolve the students’ grievances circulated on social media; no one acted upon the content of the letter.

In the first half of 2020, Vice President for the Economic Cluster Dr. James Wani Igga visited students who were stranded at the embassy with no one to turn to. Together with the government special envoy Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the VP promised to raise the matter to the executive arm of the government urgently. It has been almost a year since that sentiment was made but without an action.

Zimbabwean Vice President Kembo Muhadi echoed a similar sentiment on his visit to Juba saying the scholarships would act as a leeway to bilateral ties between the two countries. The promise was a political statement and a pie on air.

Former Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Deenay Chagor pledged to resolve the matter within a month when the graduates without certificates brought the grievance to his attention in 2020. Maybe Chagor, who is now the Governor of Jonglei State, could have lived to his promise if there was no change of government.

What happens now?

Last week, a section of students, led by Maker Makur, marched to the parliament clad in their graduation gowns to express their displeasure amid differing views on how to approach the matter.

“I as an individual, my certificate is one just like for everyone here and this doesn’t make me lose more than everyone. We should all know that our share in this is the same. I shouldn’t appear like I have two degrees and everyone else with one,” Maker said prior to the protest.

Not every student was in support of the protest, however. Some knocked on the door of the National Security Service seeking for intervention.

They were told their grievance will be addressed through the Director General of National Security Service Akol Koor, who is said to be Khartoum currently.

Impatient, the antagonistic group of students proceeded with the peaceful protest even when the National Security Service advised them not to do so as their concern has been heeded.

The implication of their protest on the possibility of addressing this rooted academic concern by the NSS remains unclear.