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The lack of communication has left many Zimbabwean students who are currently studying in South Africa uncertain about the future of their country.
Speaking to City Press, Graham Maruta, who is the international affairs councillor on the Students Representative Council at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape said this morning that he and many others were left feeling “anxious”.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen; we only hope that everything will be peaceful. But we know something is going on,” Maruta said.
Maruta has been helping to facilitate extra accommodation for Zimbabwean students who have decided to stay on campus for a bit longer given the current situation back home.
“20% of Rhodes students are international students, and around 50-60% of them are from Zimbabwe.
"Our biggest concern has been the developments over the last two days, with students who have now completed their end-of-year exams and are waiting to go back.
"Some of their parents back home have warned them to stay here for now,” he said.
Maruta is himself from Zimbabwe, and hopes that the future of the country is a better one, free of any tension or violence, given that the country is currently under military rule.
“I just want a positive outcome and that things don’t necessarily escalate to something bad,” Maruta said.
Fourth year law student, Maxine Chisweto said that the news of the military rule which was instituted in Zimbabwe this week came as a “shock” to her.
“We grew up our entire lives knowing [Robert] Mugabe to be our president. It was very shocking to see someone stand up to him,” she said.
Feelings of excitement and fear have gripped students, with Chisweto saying that she hopes “there won’t be any bloodshed.”
“We are excited though because as a nation we are tired and we’ve had enough.
"There needs to be change implemented and if my country was the way it was meant to be then I wouldn’t be in South Africa studying, I would be back home in my own country,” she said.
Tomorrow, a march that is set to take place in Robert Mugabe Square, will involve some of Chisweto’s family members.
“The march is going to peaceful and it’s the people saying enough is enough,” she said.
Chisweto feels that despite the “coup that’s not a coup” that is currently taking place in Zimbabwe, the nation’s people have no choice but to support the “lesser of two evils”.
“If we take out Mugabe as president, then we’re putting in Zimbabwe’s former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa as an interim president.
"Even though we’re switching hands from Mugabe to this group of people, they’ve been a useless opposition.
"We’ve got Morgan Tshvangirai who is allegedly staying in a house that he’s been given by Mugabe.
"He is being treated for cancer by the Mugabe funds, so it’s a lesser evil because we don’t have any real options for a president, even if we go to the polls in 2018,” Chisweto said.
Chisweto spoke of President Jacob Zuma’s supposed intervention as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, and that throughout Zimbabwe, Zuma has been seen as ‘Mugabe’s ally’.
“Last night when Mugabe was allegedly about to sign his resignation, the thing that he stood by was that the AU (African Union) and SADC would have his back.
"So the reason why most people are sceptical about this is because we just see SADC and the AU as stepping in to put Mugabe back into power, and they’re not considerate of what we want.
"People in Zimbabwe are saying right now: ‘let us do what we want to do. Let us make our decisions for the first time’. Every other time that we needed SADC and South Africa and the AU to come in, they didn’t come in,” she said.
Chisweto spoke about the 2013 political killings which took place in Zimbabwe after the constitution was changed, and the lack of intervention from SADC and the AU.
Third year BCom in Information Systems and Economics student, Leslie Chingono echoed similar sentiments, saying that despite the seemingly “peaceful situation” back home, the “idea of change is not very familiar”.
“We have less faith in the ballot system. I have personally tried to remain a-political, but I believe that in the future things do need to change.
"My plan was to work for a few years before returning home, but I’m not sure now.
"The best case scenario that we can hope for is that things will improve for everyone back home,” Chingono said.
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