Tertiary Institution Students Turn To Gold Panning To Raise Fees.

Female students at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo College in Gwanda have turned to gold panning and mopane worm harvesting in a bid to raise the soaring rental and college fees as the institution has threatened them with expulsion if they fail to raise the required amounts.

So dire is the situation at the Matabeleland South institution of higher education that most students are now exposed to criminal gangs who are already taking advantage of the vulnerable females' desperation most of them who come from poor backgrounds and unable to make ends meet as the cost of both private and college accommodation has reached unaffordable levels.

According to some female students, the cost of learning at the institution has risen and most of the students are failing to pay for their upkeep and daily needs.

The college is demanding top-up fees of up to $4000 Zimbabwe dollars from the students. To worsen their plight homeowners are demanding R250 as rent per student, while college lecturers have also been accused of taking advantage of the students' desperation by charging exorbitant fees for stationery, photocopying and other college needs.

“We are suffering the college has told us not to report for lectures if we have not paid top-up fees and this semester's fees, we have to look for accommodation which is charged in South African Rand, buy food, stationery and make sure that we are presentable at the college,” said Final year student Simangaliso Mudau.

She said together with some of the female students now wake up early every weekend and travel more than twenty kilometres in search of the mopane worms which they harvest, dry and sell to raise money for food, rent and save the remainder for school fees.

Others students are reportedly doing menial jobs such as washing and cleaning houses for lecturers and other residents in order to raise money for their upkeep.

“It is hard life at college, now that amacimbi are scarce, we have turned to gold panning, there are criminals who sometimes steal our gold ore and threaten us with violence, but we just surrender everything we have, we cannot report to the police because gold panning is illegal so we just suffer in silence. Some of my friends have been sexually assaulted, while others are willingly giving themselves to men in exchange for money,” said Soneni Nkala another final year student.

Nurses at the campus clinic confirmed treating both male and female students of sexually transmitted related infection but were quick to dismiss the cases as caused by the latest developments where students are reportedly engaging in sexual activities with gold panners in the mining town.

According to the National Aids Council (NAC) Gwanda has the highest prevalence rate of HIV and sexually transmitted infections in the Province.

Already some Women's Rights Organisations have expressed concern over the unfair treatment of female students at these institutions of higher learning where women are exposed to some of these dangerous vices because of their vulnerable positions as compared to their male counterparts.

Association of Rural Women and Better House Holds an organization that advocates for women's rights in Shanyaugwe in rural Gwanda said it was deeply concerned by the suffering of the female students at the institution and said they tried to engage the Principal but to no avail.”These are women just like us, it was better if they went to harvest macimbi for their families, but not for resale so that they can sustain themselves at college or pay fees, they are supposed to learning to be better citizens of tomorrow instead of panning a for gold and doing these menial jobs where they are exposed to dangerous criminals,” said Mrs Monica Ndlovu the Secretary-General of the Organisation.

Students confirmed that the situation at the college was so bad that they are attending classes in unfinished buildings with no electricity or water as a result of load shedding and water rationing a situation that is threatening them with disease, the college has also doubled its enrolm