LUSAKA Apex University has been closed indefinitely after students ran amok this morning demanding management to slash transport fees among other issues.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Lupando Munkonge asked students to leave the premises immediately in a memo.
“This is to announce that the university has been closed until further notice. All students on all campuses are requested to leave immediately,” read the memo.

On Saturday, Apex university students’ union president Major Tembo issued a circular announcing the intended protest and detailing the reasons why this decision had been arrived at.

“Greetings to all LAMU students. This serves to inform you that the ongoing dialogue and negotiations with the administration concerning their decision to stop providing transport have proven to yield little result and therefore students have called for further action. The union has been in constant consultation with all faculty association representatives as well as students at large and together we have decided to hold a peaceful protest on Monday 16th January, 2017,” wrote Tembo.

“In our protest, we seek to be addressed by non other than the vice-chancellor of the university and the following are the demands that we will make: the university should not ask students who do not use the transport system to pay the transport fees effective this semester, the university should not only recognize but also make proper/formal consultation from the students’ representatives such as the students union and faculty associations before making decisions that will adversely affect the largest stakeholders of the university, which is the students themselves, the university will come up with a solution that will least inconvenience all students as soon as possible- deadline: by 18:00 hrs on Monday 16th January, 2017, concerning the decision to move, the university should first secure adequate and affordable accommodation before they ask all students to move, failure to which students will move.”