University of Zambia (UNZA) Great East road campus students run amok Friday night and stoned vehicles in protest against governments alleged failure to increase their meal and project allowances.
But Quick action by vigilant officers from the Zambia Police Service prevented the irate students from stoning more motorists.
The current meal allowance is K10,000 per day while the project allowance stands at K300,000.
UNZASU President, Solomon Ng’ambi told ZNBC’s Effie Mpande who rushed to the scene that the students wanted their allowance to be hiked.
Mr. Ng’ambi said government last upped students allowances four years ago.
“The police officers have been deployed at the campus in order to protect public property,” the police said.
Although some students were arrested the police did not say how many.
Similar protests also took place at the Copperbelt University, where the government provides free bursaries to students who cannot afford to pay fees.
“The ring leaders of the protest have been identified and will be made to account for their action,” said Grace Mikunga, spokesperson of the Copperbelt University in a statement.
Student riots over low government funding levels of the two state-run universities have become increasingly common.
The government has said it plans to stop free bursaries offered to poor students because it has been the source of riots and demonstrations.
Why do they rush to stoning and damaging property? That’s shallow thinking. It doesn’t help in any way. What are the qualifications for going to UNZA anyway?
Here we go again a new UNZASU executive board flexing its muscles, surely is violence the only way UNZASU is supposed to deal with their problems or is it just the acceptable traditional way of airing their grievances?
#1&2 The current meal allowance is K10,000 per day, what meal do you think that much can buy you per day???????, how is a minister entitled talktime???, if you have been to this instution you will see the gap between rich and poor students, girls selling their bodies for survival at the school, big people coming to take advantage of their situation in the process getting other things, pregnances, diseases etc. You dont have a heart coz if you had one you would sympathise with the students and pick a stone instead of condemn them while the govt is quite and only listens when they throw stones.
Prof Lungwagnwa was there but the man has gone quite, CHAWAMILA BEVE!!!
#3 Hey just stop stoning people’s cars, go and get a PJ or something. The big people you talk about have always been there. We used to call them Sugar Dadies, and call that place Airport. There is nothing new in what you have just said. Been there, done that and got the T-shirt. Please find other innovative ways of dealing with your grievances. This generation is supposed to be smarter than ours, but you keep using the same old and archaic methods we used in the 80s. Find something new please.
poverty
Please GRZ, do something about UNZA – staff, students and others.
But you people i was at UNZA and in most times these disruptions ended up affecting my program.So you telling me if they stone innocent motorists the Govt will listen to them?Well it hasn’t worked how long have they been stoning and what have they benefited?Nothing coz they keep doing this year in year out.Are these graduates telling me violence is all they think?Can’t they come up with something different to air their grievances other than stoning,are they so dull that they can’t think of camping around state house until LPM addresses them.I sympathize with the students but i only disagree with this method cause it’s never worked,please students wake up and do a different method.
Honestly,how do we survive with a meal of 10pin per day?I expected former unza students who knw wat we go thru stand up and fight for us.So its only HH who is a former student of unza to go out of his way and advocte on our behalf to govt?Where are other politicians and concerned citizens?
I sypathise with you my children.Its all of us are to blame for electing pipo who dnt prioritise educ.including u unza students.
Education in Zambia is not a priority, so I sympathise with the students. But I am not going to support your plight when you stone my car! If you want to be heard, ZNBC and other Goverment media are near the University, hire a news crew! Like Papa J says, students should be innovative and find better methods of airing their grievances. Those stone-age methods, literally, have not worked.
if they cant listen what is there else to do?/? hey critics find us a solution so that the govt can listen.10 pin for 1 tin chibuku.two agric ministers on full benefits, blotted cabinet,etc ,HH VIVa !!!!!!
#8, I am a former UNZA student and I assure you, I will try everythign within my capacity to bring UNZA upto date – a level that is has to be operating at. Of course, this will be hard and it will take time, but I will never give up for someone said “if you aim at getting to the stars, you might just land on the moon.”
UNZA is behind in terms of research activities and new stuff in education. There is alot to be done in order to bring sanity to UNZA and also make it (UNZA) competitiveness in Africa and beyond.
One alternative is lets try scrapping off tuition fees for all science postgraduate programmes as a start and link UNZA to the industry.
stone throwing does not solve any problems.Go on a protest fast lasting seven days and on sabbath break the fast you will see your meal allowance will become humongous.you unza students should get part time jobs to put your self through college and move away from this allowance mentality.become self sufficent man get pizza delivery jobs at debonairs pizza.go to the university of life.those papers dont mean a thing if you dont learn how to work hard physically and mentally.
These students are not down to earth and not sincere . K10000 is a lot to buy food in Zambia for a day I was at an international university and I only have 50pence a day to spend on food and i survived. K10000 can get you a lot if you venture into the combons and farms. They are probably protesting for money for beer, talk time and chilizaling it funds. They are people that have it worse than these students and yet don’t resort to violent behaviour. K10000 is £1.50 a day thats a lot . I know poorer families that live on that as a family of 5.
spent $60,000 on my BA of my own, Thats like K210,000,000. Could pay 700 students with that for Basaries. Its called HARD WORK!! No Chibuku or cok pit. Ha ha!! Keep stoning whilst I think innovation!!
I hope these guys dont SHUTA any more after there Chibuku Drinking spree. Graduates!! No offence to everyone that went to UNZA, however some of these guys were really something else. Especially ba Monk.
Its high time our students became innovative. W e have all gone thru that but stone throwing, a two decade initiative belongs to the past and as students, we shuold think of progressive ways to sustain our university lives.
We threw stones but not when what u are getting is more than $US 2 dollars. What else do u want? money for shakers or to spend on imports? Nope, not from my P.A.YE.
what is this about the GRZ thinkingof stopping bursaries that is very wrong. its true the allowance is low and students seem to have no other way to have their requests heard but rioting so be it…the gov shud take some time to listen to their plight for real and not make a bad situation worse. who will go to unza if they are no bursaries??
Yes that K10 000 per day is enough. As someone said it is equal to 1.50 UK Pounds. During my postgrad in London, I lived on 5.00 UK pounds on food per week, which is less than what you kids are getting. So what is your beef, really? More money for shakers?? Hell no. Go get a part time job if you want that.
The problem stems from failure to comprehend what they’re doing at UNZA. Oh no!!! The children of today!
Why don’t they go to State house and run riot at its gates to show LPM their displeasure at management of the citizen’s affairs by his grz?
K300,000 is less than i spend on my beers every fridays. The govt whould increase these boys’ allowances.
For a student 300 pin is enough.Those girls choose to sleep around with sugar dadies bcoz they dont want to live above their means.The sleeping around is therefore an issue of immorality and not poverty
The govt should not make our brilliant students, the future of the country resort to prostitution and other vices to put food on the table because of unreasonable allowances. The students too should know that behaving like Kadobi, cadres, or thugs does not draw sympathy from the public but utter disgust! Grow up, you must show you are different from Sec school kids! There are better ways of expressing your grievances, otherwise, what has a poor motorist got to do with your misery? In the olden days, cars were targeted because only senior govt officials and rich people could afford them, thereby causing resentment from poor majority students. Now everyone drives including poor retirees!
these chaps are a nuisance now!what about their parents?
.
Can one of these chaps from UNZA come out. If 10pin/day for food is less, how much do they want?
Can GRZ take care of these brats? Which Govt still pays pipo to be students …. rubbish.Now they are crying and throw their toys out of the pram (UNZA) after the govt raises tax on mines and they want to benefit.Being paid to be lumpans, etc.Let GRZ go give villagers with food parcels worth the same amount per day.
What benefit do these UNZA students get by stoning innocent people’s vehicles on the Great East Road? I should think UNZA students are the only ones in the region who find joy in venting their anger on innocent people. Could it be that many riff-raff are being admitted at UNZA? The behaviour of these UNZA students is disgusting to say the least.
You want solutions? I will give you solutions.
1) Tell Hanif to subsidise your chills at Xenon, after all you are his best customers. I know that’s why you want that extra money. Get your student union to negotiate for a ‘student price’.
2)Ask them to negotiate with the bus drivers association too so that you pay less than everyone else
3) We need a clean city, so arrange with the City Council that you clean the roads on weekends and they pay you K10,000 each.That should take care of the weekend Chibuku
i think zambians should grow up! nowhere in the world do students get free grants and not pay back. it is disguting to say the least to see students stoning cars and innocent people for something that is totally not linked to other people’s peace of mind. i think the government should scrap these freebies! and the so called future leaders work for their up keep. there are people living on less than 10k a day with families to look after and with the burden of thinking what they can eat the next day and on the contrary you have ungrateful students who think they own us tax payers! get real!
# 29, don’t pose it as a question. It is infact because of so many riff raffs. Sometimes we tend to wonder how these chaps get admitted. Now, they crying for sympathy after stoning our vehicles. My appeal is to the police that next time they should carry with them bamboo sticks and whip these *****s asses. And you will see how hilarious it will be.
You know why these gilrs are sleeping around its because they need that extra money to bleach their skins. Look at the ones most misbehaving they are all bleached.
the unza students are too self important,why cant you get odd jobs to see yourself thru? you want for nothing,no sympathy points from me!!!!
# 30, Walasa.
Though your names ‘Mposa Mabwe’ sounds stone thrower.
This is nonsense. I think these chaps are living in an artificial world. In most familes in Zambia, the income per individual is about 300pin if not less, if such families can manage, why can’t these chaps? In any case, even if the allowance was insufficient to meet their needs, there are other civilised ways of letting your grievances known. Chaps grow up!
“Similar protests also took place at the Copperbelt University, where the government provides free bursaries to students who cannot afford to pay fees.”
Please, newswriter. All government sponsored students deserve their well-obtanied bursaries from the government. This has nothing to do with them not being able to pay fees, it simply comes from their hard work in secondary school which saw them get good results in their school certificates exams.
#32, the Police under Chiluba’s regime already beat us up in August 2000, but that did not deter the students’ determination to do more harm to property. I can assure you this, “2 wrongs will not make a right.”
no. 30: your comment is refreshing when i was at UNI i had a job just to subsidize some of my vice i did not wait for handouts although nalepamfya utuma aunties nama uncles iyaka MOSI now and then. This lumpen behaviour is uncalled for i bet u most of the rioters are charged with too much testesterone pantu tabalenyenga ….. Ride thru the tough times mukesa muku sefya kuntanshi
Let us Zambians solve this impasse with humility and understanding. The least a student needs to do when he is trying to get good grades is to start wondering around the whole town looking for a part-job when there are no or a few industries and companies willing to employ parttime student workers.
Zambia is not yet like South Africa, the EU or USA.
I wonder if these chaps even make realistic budgets. I wonder if they even know how much they think would be adequate to meet there demands for food!
We cant even afford 5pin to go to the internet cafe and contribute on this blog, thats why we are throwing stones. see we are not even connected the Govt should provide free wireless internet facilities within 500m radius at the campus tapapata. My mother in the compund lives on less than a $ a day so i will try to manage, its just mob sychology.
I went to a private institution and spent K180, 000 per month on meals and still managed to drink shakers!!!
I thought UNZA was a place for Interlectuals but now am beginning to Wonder. Please be mature with the way you air your greivances. Grow Up!!
these little brats are at it again. they have nothing better to do that stone cars on the road.
That is such stupidity.
yes. I think these criminals at UNZA should grow up. you just want an increament to go to Cockpit and drink chibuku in Kalundu. Mwanya!!!
yeah, Just a bunch of spoilt brats.Th govt pays them to be students then they all go to the US.The GRZ should also grow up and put them on repayable busaries or govt service for 5 yrs.
better still close it! that is why even your boreholes arent working because your brains are at kalundu market
46 that’s a good suggestion. Vuto lamene tilinayo muno mudziko latu la Zambia nilakuti, timafuna maningi vintu va mahala. Ndalama vomwezo bamaziita kuti grant, nomba nayo bamambala bacenga. atase.
This is like pickiing up a fight with a someone after being provoked by someone else. The issue is between Government and them, why pick on a private motorist. Maybe it is time UNZA was taken 200kilometers from such civilisations as GER, because the behaviours is uncalled for. I remember in my student days we used to do these things on Jambo Drive but in retrospect, that was foolish. I think we have advanced as a country to still remain in these state of affairs. The riots that used to happen before were on principle, Kaunda supporting UNITA instead of MPLA, Rising food prices and guess what selective property damage, parastatal vehicles and GRZ vehicles period, that I call strategy
the little masscots nearly damaged my prized car and yet i met with some of them at one club where they wanted me to buy drinks for them. i ask the police to ruthlessly deal with them. if they think they can stone their way to an increased meal allowance, then they are in for a shock. the dumsels deserve no mercy as most of them just spend their days twisting their tongues and imitating american gangsters.
Ba-Monko naba mooma balikwata strategy. Please, people insults and rebuking them (UNZA Students) will not help as for now.
The matter on the ground is that they need reasonable Meal Allowances, Project Allowances and Book Allowances. How many books can you buy with K100,000 or so book allowance for the whole year? One book atmost!
But look, a UNZA student is taking 4 courses per semester atleast and needs to buy good books to him/her in the studies. While I am not in any way supporting this – UNZA students – barbaric behaviour, I recognise the grievances of the Students. If the government can promptly honour their efforts, this thing of taking to the streets cant be seen any more.
I have been asking the following questions for a week and I still do not have answers? Kindly assist.
1.Which secondary school did ba SATA attend?
2.What are the names of any of his former classmates?
3.Which tertiary of professional institutions did SATA attend?
4.What are his professional qualifications?
5. What was his Job before he joined politics?
6. How many legitmate wives has he Got?
Please assist.
#50 mwana mubotu, I agree with you. Trouble with these rascals at UNZA is that their role models are American gangsters, American Basketballers, American musicians, and even American jailbirds. Once you have such fools for students in an institution then all you have is trouble after trouble. The absence of powerful courses such as SSF 110 and SSF 120 means that most of the students can easily be brainwashed and they can be blown in any direction even by a breeze. Some of these students do not even know how K10k looks like when they are at their homes and yet they act big when they are at UNZA. It is high time the GRZ changed what they pay these complete *****s from allowances to loans.
K10,000 per day is more than enough. They just want to have extra money for boozing. Just go back to class and thereafter face life after UNZA.
Its high time our tax is apreciated and put to ggod use. As a worker I am highly taxed so that the UNZA student ha s a bursary and K 300,000 allowance. After a lot of sacrifice on the meager salary one buys the car only to be stoned by a student. You are even lucky to get such grants. Others are paying alot of money at private institutions to get the same education. Grow up and face the reality. If it is difficulty for you parents to get a salary increament from the same government why should you. Muleke amano yabupuba!
if the police cannot protect motorists from thease lumpens and lumpenesses, then we have the rights to protect our cars and propert. Whats the connection between a stundent’s meal allowance and someone’s windscreen?? Just shoot them one by one. They will stop one day.
Do some of the cars have insurance? Are they road-worth? Please, let us solve this problem amicably.
UNZA students need our support. Let all of us do our part to arrest this case probably once and for all.
The fact on the ground is that the UNZA students need our help.
Someone said,”once a monko, always a monko.”
EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT “BETTER OTHER WAYS” OF THINKING? WHAT WAYS CAN THAT BE? GRZ CHOOSE NOT TO LISTEN. FOR HOW LONG HAVE THE STUDENTS BEEN FIGHTING TO AIR THEIR PROBLEM? WHEN DID GRZ EVER TRY TO LISTEN? IF GRZ CAN NOT RESPONSE TO STONING VEHICLES, GUYZ BELIEVE THEIR IS NO OTHER PEACEFUL WAYS. DIALOGING HAVE NEVER BEEN THE ANSWER, GO MORE MORE WEIRD, DONE JUST STONE, BURN WHAT IS ON YOUR WAY, BURN BURN BURN, BURN STATE HOUSE, BURN LPM HISSELF.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH THE STUDENTS, ITS THE GOVERNMENT!! ALL THESE GENERATIONS ARE NOT COWARDS. ITS THEIR RIGHT TO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS, A PEACEFULL, AND NORMAL LIFE STANDARDS.. UNZA STUDENTS, GO TO PARLIAMENT, STATE HOUSE, “MOE”, AND JUST BURN WHAT YOU CAN FIND.BURN LPM HIMSELF, BURN HIM. THE NEXT ONE TO COME THEN WILL TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY! “YOU HAVE TO DESTROY INORDER TO BUILD A BETTER ONE”
#52 Iwe musula obe, what is your problem? why dont you disclose your own fake qualifications from matero university. PERIOD!!!!
close that breeding ground for terrorists!!!
#58&59 then let them go and impound 6 Government vehicles and give Government an ultimatum not taking out their frutstrations with Government on innocent people like you and me and of all people Mwana Mubotu (Beautiful Child). DOGS! NO! RABID DOGS HAVE COME TO UNZA AND GUESS WHAT ALL THE NICE PEOPLE HAVE RUN AWAY.
You know what would be brilliant if they increased those bursaries and then turned them into student loans that would be paid back at a later date. These students don’t appreciate free stuff , this is probably why Unza produces a lot of sub standard students that go on to feed corruption. They have an entitlement complex to expense a high life that will probably breed politicians and a working class that expects the world to part with their money. Some of us were cleaners and macdonalds workers in our undergrad years . Unza students should become part time street vendors or conductors to fund their life
The stone throwers should be rounded up and banned from the university for life to set an example. No wonder why UNza is one of the least sort after universities in Southern Africa, instead of breeding intellectuals it breeds feral cadres that will end up with top jobs.
These stone throwing chaps represent the worst of our mentality at home. They get their tuition paid by GRZ and then get free money to buy food (i really dont care whether 10pin is enough or not) and then they have the chick to stone my car if peradventure i am driving past in the thick of their madness. This for me is outrageous and criminal. I sponsor one of my siblings at UNZA by folking out her entire tuition, pay for her books, and food i also rent half a room from one of these chaps who got the room free and has decided to rent it out so i have no choice because my sibling could not even be allocated a room which i was willing to pay for and then the chaps must throw stones?? malabishi
Is this busary supposed to suppliement monies paid by the parents like u #65? Or GRZ is responsible for 100% of student fees, etc.
Students who have a bursary basically pay nothing at UNZA while students who are self sponsored have to pay for everything. So no it is not a suppliment. But if students who get a bursary feel that the GRZ stipend is not enough, they must seek supplementary funds from their families because the bursary is not a birthright which the country owes them and it is not meant to cover all their wish lists
The Unza problem is part of the bigger problem in Zambia and the rest of Africa! DEPENDENCY!!!!!
Students feel that its someone else responsibility to educate them and not theirs or parents. They get a free, tuition, free boarding and meal allowances irrespective of their financial background. In other words, if HH or GBM children were at UNZA, govt would still pay for them. WHY? Secondly, they do not pay this money back even when we know hat some of them are very successful later on in life. not even a single simple donation. The best universities in the west are good because of is alumni and benefactors, just recently, a former student of St Louis University,gave $12 million to the school
Annually St Louis University raises $80 million from mainly in form of donations from its alumni and corporations. Should we expect the same from these stone throwing students who just came back from a long closure? No.
The problem seems to be far far too big than what those guys who condem UNZA students can visualise. The reason why Zambia will never develop is because once one pass through UNZA they always give a blind eye and a deaf ear to whatever problems that are happening there. Even PhD holders cannot give a reasonable panacea to the problems except insulting on this damn vitual space. What kind of educated people do we have in Zambia? Narrow minded people who look at a prolem from one view. Ask the government what plans it has for higher education in Zambia. Don’t just think of your posh vehicles. Thats baloney! This government need to look at the plight of those always victimised “stone throwers”.
The bottom line is that, they students behavior is unacceptable, they should find much civil ways in raising there grievances like surrouding state house or Lungwagwa’s office instead of damaging tax payers property.
#70 popo, do you define K10,000 per day for meal allownace as a state of “victimisation” for students? This is the issue here not government’s overall plan for higher education, even these students in question obviously dont seem to have a problem with that, they are part of the plan anyway.Question is do they have a case in this particular instance? lets keep the eye on the ball
# 72 your ball seem to be black and therefore difficult to keep an eye on it. You seem not to understand where all the fracas is emanating from. I have no time to teach you critical theory on this virtual site. If government is not a major stake in this issue, then who should be? Bring them so that we can start dialoguing for UNZA students on this big issue at hand.
K300,000 is enough for a student. My maid who has a family survives on that amount per month. Maybe someone should to teach them some budgeting techniques. And some manners. There are a lot of young zambians who have to pay for their own education despite doing very well at grade 12. Free education and free money and they are still complaining? Most of them will never even pay back to the nation; they will run away to go and start cleaning toilets in the diaspora. Maybe the K300,000 should be taken away from them so that they can know what real life is all about. Too much spoon feeding!!
It is high time UNZA students learnt to refrain from that awkward behaviour.Learn to solve problems in a pea?eful manner.Our country is poor,plus with such leaders in Govn. who only think about stealing public funds,what do u expect?By so doing you only disturb your academic programmes!!
See, Russia pays Govn.students 30 US.dollars per month.hence appreciate K300,000 (almost 100 US.dollars).You will enjoy life may be after graduating.It is a pity that a course of 4yrs takes you at UNZA 10yrs or so!!
Reason with LPM,he may hear you one day!!!
Popo I am not sure i have time to learn critical theory either, i doubt that your theory is what is called for here in anycase.Students are stoning cars because they re being given K10,000 per day for meals and getting free tuition while they re at it. Now if in your view this stupidity on the part of students requires critical theory to solve then heaven help us. I do not disagree that there are additional problems to higher education (including colleges which never make news headlines by the way and are in worse conditions than UNZA)my contention is that their behaviour on this particular score is deplorable
Unza students, here’s a model budget you can use to make the K300,000 stretch to monthend as requested by #74 above:
1. 25Kg mealie meal – K35,000
2. 3 medas of Kapenta – K50,000
3. 4 cooking oil – K32,000
4. 1 2kgsugar – 8,500
5. 5kg Rice from Soweto market (for breakfast)- K20,000
6. Tomato and Onion – K60,000
7. Rape – K30,000
8. Beer, bread, milk, meat, chicken, prostitutes: to be bought when you start making your own money
TOTAL: K220,500 . Carryover: KK79,500
I read this budget with suck keen interest and agreement. but item # 8 almost cracked my ribs i am still gasping for some breath – but it is so true, good job anonymous #77 We need to convene a budget seminar at monko square for you to deliver this much needed insight to our good friends at UNZA
The situation is just unacceptable-it aint just those guys at UNZA,infact its zambian students everywhere!!one just wonders how we are surviving for instance,here in Russia when prices for almost everything has doubled and we still getting the same $200 dollars a month!when bread costs almost a dollar! and upto now we are yet to receive our upkeep money for may-aug! They are hard facts..but surely some pressure will do some reasonable;therefore,as you petition for the good of our fellow UNZA students also consider the fate of those students overseas before one dies of hunger!!!!!!
Are you guys in Russia able to wait tables or do some cleaning jobs to supplement you allowance? lets understand the total situation in order to seek solutions.In the US sponsored students i think are allowed 20 hrs a week to work on campus for extra money but the principle remains that lets be wary or absolving our students from the responsibility to view their education as being primarily for their benefit and the need to stop viewing GRZ as responsible for everything
For a long I have heard about Govt Sposoring students to Russia. Just wondered where they end up. Do they go back and work for the Govt?? Any one has an answer??
The South African government’s refusal to even acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in as many as three million Zimbabweans walking the streets of South Africa. If President Mbeki and his deputy president, Zuma, had acted decisively on Zimbabwe nine years ago these Zimbabweans would not be here today. His refusal to address the crisis in Zimbabwe – and his friendship with President Mugabe – has brought them here. His block-headedness is directly responsible for the eruption of xenophobia.
I know this the wrong topic to blog on this article but Lusaka times should wake up and report latet news
It`s alright saying they find a job to do to supplement the K300 000. But are there any jobs in Zambia? Could have said they do paper rounds but God! How difficult that could be! One paper Woodlands, the other in Rhodes Park. Blimey.
#83 300 pin is enough in zed, no need for extra income, see #77’s budget
#84 have you been to UNZA? Do you even understand how stundents must operate…..Regulations at (Unless they have changed) do not allow students to cook in their study bedrooms…and there are no self catering facilities there……strictly speaking #77’s budget is not tenable.10 Pin perday will buy you one meal from the cafeteria: kulya fye lunch and swallow air rest of the meals
Naimwe ba monko bumposa mabwe has never worked! find other ways of getting what you want,ala!
My having been to UNZA or not is irrelevant in this discussion. I am a current sponsor of someone at UNZA. UNZA students have stoves, fridges microwaves, pressure cookers,foodwarmers all the gadgetery precisely because they dont buy meals in the cafeterias but instead cook their own food. This is the reality of the times. If 300pin can make ends meet for household with children, it can surely stretch for a university student
#77
remove the sugar because it’snot necessary it’s luxury that brings diabetes. Add some kandolo which is dirt cheap to replace the rice and then instead of the vegetable Rape tell the students to pink bondwe(wild spinach. These students aren’t survivors. It’s funny being abroad teaches you better than in Zambia. PLus if they want chicken it’s time they bought malegeni and hunted some kwale’s which are fulu fulu muma farm.
#87, on the contrary it is relevant; we need to understand and appreciate how unza is meant to be run …..the fact that ba monko and ba moma have kitchens in thier room does not make it right…the truth is they are not supposed to have those things…its only because someone (or is it the entire UNZA admin) is sleeping i their job…The problem at UNZA and the entire Zambian education system is much more than the stone throwing we see; my heart bleeds when i see the contributions you guys are making on this blogg. Ala isukulu lyamutengo and if we have to go forward we must be ready to pay for it.Twayambile fye bwino nomba finishing yalipena.If Govt cannot introduce radical reforms at unza,
Cont’d….they must just oblige in to the monks’demands…Bushe ku Ministry of education kwaliba abasambilila?
The simple answer is close the damn place. Today students are up in arms. Tomorrow their lecturers are dema ding one thing or other! I say close it!!
Iyee! tata Lesa #91
UNZA is the highest educational institution in zambia and we espect it to produce quality leaders, but coz of leakages in high schools pipo who find the way in this institution are not suppose to be there, a reasonal student can not stone a car for a friend without knowing how the worked hard to buy one.
#92 Ardonis, I know my suggestion sounds rather radical. But think about it: How many innocent hard-working tax-paying motorists have been stoned by these hooligans for simply driving past UNZA at the wrong time? Somehow these *****s join in the fray simply because they are not upt to it in their grades and want to spoil it for eveyone! As pointed out by others, maybe we should given them scholarchips that bind them to government sevice afterwards until such loans are fully repaid.
there are pipo out there who make a daily budget in a k500 after working hard to raise it, stone your own rooms or toilets so that you wont have were to release from. You are leading with bad example you need to be matured enough and find good ways to air your complaints. NOBRAINS.
#90, I am really not getting your point. What precisely are you trying to say? my point is that K10,000 per day is enough for food on what should be a modest budget for a student. I have a feeling that you re seriously underestimating the level of education of bloggers here, judging by your bleeding heart caused by what people are saying here. I will be the first one to tell you that acquiring an education is a costly venture and that is why those who are getting it for free, like these stone throwing hoodlums, must be grateful that we taxpayers are even baring the cost for them while paying cash for our own relatives.So tell me again what is your point?
My point is we are condemning ba monko and suggesting budgets without really looking at the bigger picture – The stone throwing is definitely not acceptable especially that victims are always innocent taxpayers… but the solution is not the budgets we are putting up on this blog, neither is it in accepting the current situation of students cooking in their rooms,and certainly not closing the UNZA. We need reforms in the systems; #94’s point is just one of the things we need to implement ( i still don’t understand how Govt can still be giving bursaries that are never recovered)
1.The BC not be free money it must be inkongole which can easily be recovered esp with establishment of CRB 2. Govt should increase support both in terms of funding and policy guidance to our universities -at the moment our universities are run like my village secondary school kwa mumpolokoso 3. The ugly practice of cooking in the rooms should be either be stopped or the infrastructure modified to support it – one day we will pay a very heavy price for allowing it ; i should think UNZA is already paying through high electricity bills – of course the money for these bills comes from the same pocket as what the brats are demanding —in short put sanity in the system napapata #94 i cannot
OK now i get you, but we need specifics and we should differentiate what is tenable and what is not.Kambilimbilo started a long time ago at UNZA because management could not run the cafetarias in a satisfactory manner and the private carterers’ food was more pricey than students could afford.Unless you direct massive resources into the dining arrangements, this arrangement will remain for the forseeable future so students need a stipend that can enable them to eat under these circumstances and the K300,000 is able to do that.UNZA cant enforce the cooking ban because they are not in a position to offer a satisfactory alternative. Bursaries as they stand today are actually loans so families..
underestimate/overestimatethe education of the bloggers here…my heart bleeds not at the level of education (which i do not know) but at the statements being put here by the way the stone throwing brats are generally smart educatable lads…bur look at what they are doing…its not the education or lack of it that by which we are judged but what we do eg ukuposa amabwe and what we say eg “close down UNZA” or “Buy ubunga when the infrastructure does not allow you to cook”…..allowing a wrong just because the wrong has always been committed??
must be made to identify a member who signs the loan as surety so that the govt can recover funds in the event of the scholar not finding a job or just absconding.The major reform that is required in my view is a reform of the mind for everyone to accept that pursuing a university degree must come at a cost that must ultimately be bourne by the person who gets the degree, therefore this sense of blind entitlement must cease.Govt could also introduce a modest levy for all of you who got bursaries and are now enjoying rewards that your degrees have brought so that you can retroactively help to fund scholarships for others.
I am completely with you now #100. But i have to state as you already know govt will not put any more money into UNZA, this institution must start upping its own generation of revenue in addition to GRZ handouts.I dont agree about policy direction, UNZA already has very good and clear policies they just need to implement what they have, no need for additional paperwork, i agree that common cooking areas should probably be set up
Fellow Zambians, I am a former monko at UNZA and I know what happens over there. What the UNZA management and GRZ needs to do is build modern accommodation facilities outside UNZA premises of GER Campus. Then most of the residences at UNZA must be allocated to First year and second year students only.
Third year and Fourth year students together with Postgraduate students have to be allocated rooms that are far from the Campus.
Let a transport company facilitate a system of ferrying all off-campus students to and from UNZA at specified times of the day.
Once senior students are separated from Freshers and the Matusas, the sort of disturbances (stone throwing) will die a natural death.
Also, unza has to start producing graduates who will be ready to enter the industry and also meet the required needs of society. This can be achieved in many ways.
I am proposing that UNZA scraps off tuition fees for all science postgraduate courses. Once this programme is up and running,we will then need the postgrad students to publish journal articles as a sign of seriousness since the tuition fees will be waived.
This will in turn make UNZA visible to the ‘outside world’ and the industry will be ready to access useful life skills from our graduates. Let us also find ways of conducting student exchange programmes so that the monks and momas can get some exposure that helps change mindsets
# 104. hhehhehhehhe
I totally agree with U.UNZA is lagging behind in terms of research because students have time to meet at Monk square to map up strategies on how they will stone cars & private property insteady of going into the field/library to carry our research ventures so as to up grade themselves & UNZA as an institution. Most students leave master’s level having published nothing & hence it affects UNZA as an institution. Let students get into productive ventures and leave the culture of seeking for free money.Abash stone-age culture.
Are u sinciere with yourself #105. Have you been to UNZA to study? Its not all that you see. Those guys think fatser and they know very well that if they use normal channels of communications, nathing is going to be heard and hence they resort to something that will result into quick response, stone throwing is a good one. Cos vocal people like you will speak on their behalf if your car is stoned. VIVA MONk Power VIVA!!! its a nice think if you have slagish people in mgt. Why wait for a stone to be thrown.
#103, you think students can not mobilise themselves when they meet during the day? the only solution is to improve things. Students are not lioting always, they only liot when there is a cause. the fact that people graduate showes there was a time when school was progressing so well and if that is maintained no student can go on viva. So to iron out the problem iron out inefficiency, how, u know best because u hold those posts.
#107. I was a monko or should I write that I am still a UNZA Monko even if I am far away from Zambia.
Our strategy was to learn during the day while we (UNZA students) would cause trouble in the evening and night. Our cousins, the Police, would come in full gear to counter our activities in the morning, but they would find us (UNZA students) relaxed as if nothing happened in the night.
This said, I still do not rule out students’ daytime riotous behaviour although clear it normally takes place when the “cousins” provoke the students. I must, however, acknowledge that I DO NOT KNOW what is currently obtaining on the ground at UNZA.
Have a great day you all.
#52 Plse do not show your hatred of PF president SATA to other bloggers here. The cardinal point here is how the Highest learning institution (UNZA) could be improved. Plse Show us your sensible contributions on this blog and NOT ur STUPIDITY.
Plse learn to grow up a bit you fool.
Mwalya umupunga ba mambala, Lyonse you are the ones who are inviting closures and hence the University losing recognition in some parts of the USA like Oregon, Michigan and Europe. Finish these programs in time, they raise suspicions when enrolling for further studies in the First world countries.
Students must be realistic that one day it will be their own hard earned vehicle that will be damaged. Please find another way of sorting out this problem not thru damaging other peoples properties. We are not in the 20th centuary.
Mwalya umupunga ba mambala, Lyonse you are the ones who are inviting closures and hence the University losing recognition in some parts of the USA like Oregon, Michigan and Europe as well. Finish these programs in time, or else they raise suspicions when enrolling for further studies in the First world countries.
….get a part time job or something please. R10 000 is a lot for food only and thats why its called food allowance and not food, clothing, talk time & chibuku allowance.
zambia is a paradox. as much as the government has a responsibilty to educate its people , it is just not sustainable for citizens to think Zambia has the capacity to educate everyone for free. why paradox, these are the same people that have siblings forking out millions in secondary, primary and even kindergaten schools. the bursaries clearly states part of the meal allowance which means the rest has to be supplemented by the student. when u study outside zambia then you see why people value education coz u have to work ur ass out to pay back the loans or financial aid u get.how does it further their cause by smashing their own relatives property? its a shame when university students
behave like hooligans instead of portraying an educated face. lets face, K10,000 is enough to feed someone for a day , they should be greatful that they are getting $2.8 for a day’s meal when the grreater part of the world barely survives on less than a dollar. University is not just a place to get a certificate showing that you attended tertiary school but also educate on ettiquette and refine the thinking of individuals so that they know that other avenues to show discontent exist. Its high time we changed the mindset of university students.
No.90 for your own information Prof.Lungwangwa is a ph degree holder and i am sure he understhands UNZA problems very well especially that he has taught at that institution.
Now, why has he failed to solve this problems???
Ba Professor!!………..polygamist…………..I end here.
Shame on u prof lungwangwa, the problem is when you are in the middle of corrupt practices it’s really sweet you just complain when you are out of the race. He was suppose to fight for UNZA but just because he is one of the pipo enjoying in govnt it makes him silent( chiwamila galu kuluma mbuzi not mbuzi imwe kuluma galu)
#106 leave a polygamist alone, he is not like you who eats chibwabwa every day atleast him has a variety- chicken, beef and back to chibwabwa its a balanced diet which is good for health.
Getting free pocket money which one does not have pay back is still a blessing. In the west, university students get loans to study, at UNZA it is all free, plus free pocket money of 300,000.00 ZMK = 44.6309 GBP Zambia Kwacha United Kingdom Pounds 1 ZMK = 0.000148770 GBP 1 GBP = 6,721.80 ZMK. In the west students work in shops to have extra money.
It is no wonder that international students from African countries fair badly when they go to Europe to study, they are forever in poverty, at home and abroad.
Replace the UNZASU executive coz they are PF cadres and with that stupid mentality,very soon they shall get to the streest so be careful!I know the chaps well enough.Sage and his were much better.
The zedian is speaking from experiance
Yeah yeah here we go again,obviously these thugs think they are part of some special citizenry, whose grievances shud rank above everybody else’s huh! i say scrap these BCs and let’em appreciate the true value of an education, i thought the BC was meant to be a meal allowance (just a minimum please)anything else you top up from your family or prostitution(who cares),the state is not there to provide some free holiday at uni,poor sods
I love UNZA students. Every time they have a problem with the admin or the govt, everyone must suffer. Amongst those that were throwing stones, some are economics majors. What does damaging people’s assets do to the economy? Others are psychology majors, but they failed to relate to their courses-MOB PSYCHOLOGY. Others are Engineering students but failured to understand that when a vehicle is at a high speed and object is thrown on it, the impact is higher and can kill. Some of the are in Education, failed to show leadership as future educators. Stop complaining small stuff, find an answer to problem. You guys are at the university. Come up with solutions not throwing stone,do researches.
They cause so much trouble during the day! At night its worse, first the University is surrounded by sugar daddy’s and those that Shuta in the hall ways, then ba MONK and MOMA roaming around, its a Joke!!
THAT HAPPENS TO BE OUR HIGHEST LEARNING INSTITUTION IN THE NATION.I wonder what kind of speakers they get if they have any.
#80,Bro this is Russia.Dont be cheated.Racism is rife this side.If you love your life,better stay in door.Secondly, Russia is not a food producing country and thus the increase inworld food prices has directly affected this country.Food prices has doubled.Inflation is high and our Govt thru the Education Attache,a Ms Njobvu,Know this but they have chosen to keep quite waiting for us to riot,we wont do it,this is russia where freedom of expression is a big crime.If that isn’t enough,they(Embassy) still havent paid us our upkeep allowances for May-aug.Officially, we are starving this all may just because of the insensitivity of our leaders.We hear the reason for the delay in payment con’d
Con’t#124
is that these guys put our money in bank,let it make interest and later pay us.All this happens while we starving here in Russia with no relatives,no jobs.Its really sad.
I empathise with you #124,125. I wish I could do something tangible you relieve you and other students that side from those economic troubles immediately.
Unfortunately, I can only write something on here that will hopeful make someone at either the MOE or Bursaries Office (Longacres/Rhodes Park)to help you and the rest judiciously and expeditiously.
May some financial help reach you soon and not soooooo…oon.
How come only poor nations give allowances to students for upkeep? Couldn’t they have spent that money on upgrading UNZA facilities to give quality education? Who negotiates these scholarships that have no stipend or assistanceship? When I came to the US, I had free tuition, but paid for my food and apartment, but I was given a job by the school as part of the agreement in the scholarship. It wasn’t enough for those who want to live extravagance life, but my spouse and I survived without help from ZED. I know as a beggar you have no choice, how about choosing what to beg for. Students going for 6 months without upkeep funds, how do you expect people to survive in a foreign land?
well…..about Russia let me jst say wat got u there in the fast place..(Scholarship? so u had no choice but to go and avoid the nonsense in UNZA?seems like a nice choice overall it sucks even worse the fact that u cant even afford to make a mistake by the slip of the tongue if u have verbal dihhrea u better of in Zambia seriously)so…my point is best be in Zed starve and speak all the crap u want about goverment etc.. cause im one person who cant live without freedom of expression.So chabe
PEOPLE THINK ,,,PLS THINK.IM A STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA AND I BELIEVE STUDENTS ARE FIGHT FOR WHAT THEY KNOW IS RIGHT.sTUPID LUNGWAWA GETS MORE THAN A STUDENTS BOOK ALLOWANCE FOR DOSSING IN PARLIAMENT.THINK PLS UNZA IS FIGHTING FOR THE BETTER CAUSE.THERE ARE NO BOOKS AT THE UNI LIBRARY AND GRZ THINKS WE CAN GET BOOKS AND FOOD FROM THE ALLOWANCE.HONESTLY ITS NOT ENOUGH.PROVE YOURSELF DULL BY BELIEVING AND SIDING WITH THIS DULL UNEDUCATED STUPID AND ARROGANT GOVT..
That is the cost of obtaining independence thru stone throwing. Every fresher going to unza wants to taste what it means to throw a stone at a car, dodge live bullets, after drinking either st student centre or kalingalinga, or let’s go bowling at arcades; even the little moma dropped by her own defiler-sugar daddy at october airport wants to crash the windscrean of a car after aborting and crashing an innocent soul. There is total moral degradation in society. It is not just the urge to throw stones, but brain washing.
Think of how many politicians have used UNZA students for their filthy gain of political milage, making them drunk, insult andspeak unprintables against opponents. SHAME!
So this is the change people advocated for… Unfortunately, this is a backward change. Jobs are scarce, salaries are mediocre, riots, prices of commodities are high, freedom of speech is suppressed: am sure this sounds familiar, “THE KAUNDA ERA”. In the two years these Professional Fools (PF) have been in power, our beloved country has slid 30 years into the past..
People this is our country and we have the power to change it, come 2016 let us all go in large numbers to vote these professionally incompetent dweebs out of power.. HH for President..