Students evicted from hostels for Zanu PF conference

Chinhoyi University of Technology evicted fully paid-up students from on-campus hostels to make way for renovations ahead of Zanu PF's 23rd National Conference scheduled for October. The university said the renovations are necessary to upgrade facilities, but student leaders disputed the timing and accused the institution of prioritizing political events over education, and the opposition called for an investigation. Student leaders expressed outrage, saying the evictions disrupted final-year students working on dissertations, and that they were given little notice. The university relocated affected students to off-campus accommodation, but many complained about the lack of notice and the disruption to their studies, with some saying they had to pay for new accommodation. The core vulnerability is the prioritization of political party events over students' educational needs, exposing the government's disregard for university autonomy and the use of public institutions for partisan purposes, which undermines trust in the education system and raises questions about resource allocation.