School fee hike protestors released

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG-- More than 100 women held for demonstrating against school fee increases of up to 1,000 percent have been released ahead of the start of the new terms on Tuesday, according to activist organisation, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA).

At least 70 protesting children and 112 women participating in a WOZA-led march were arrested last Thursday in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, but the police failed to prove that the peaceful march was a threat to civil peace and order, forcing the prosecutor to drop charges against 105 women, said WOZA spokeswoman Annie Sibanda.

All the children, except for a 16-year-old boy, were allowed to go home later on Thursday and some women with infants were released on Friday and at the weekend. The other women were released late on Monday.

"The 16-year-old boy had refused to go home and insisted on remaining in prison with the parents. He had been arguing that since he had been directly affected by the increase he had to continue his protest," added Sibanda. The boy was forced by his lawyer to go home on Sunday.

According to WOZA, the women were harassed by the authorities, were not given blankets and had to sleep on cold cement floors.

At the beginning of the school year, government-run schools were charging around US$4 a term, which has now risen to between $18 and as much as $89 per term, while pupils in missionary schools will pay $564 instead of $221. Those attending private schools will have to spend around $1,000, up from $440 they paid last term.

"In some [state] schools the fees have gone up from $4 to almost $40 for a term," Sibanda said. "Most of our members are unemployed or are informal traders - the hike is simply unaffordable and their children will be denied their right to an education." Examination fees have also gone up.

Zimbabweans have been battling to pay steadily rising fees since 2000. Parents with children at private and missionary schools have had to lay out between 150 percent and 500 percent more since January, but parents across the board have been hit by new fees, hiked for the second time this year.

With inflation at 913 percent, there has been 12-fold rise in the cost of essentials. According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, an average family of five requires at least $350 every month for essential food and services, but average monthly incomes are often less than $100, and most informal traders fail to make even $50 a month