ZIMBABWEAN Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Dr John Mangwiro has expressed delight at the number of Zimbabwean students enrolled at Eden University.
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the students at the university, Wednesday, Dr Mnagwiro said the relation exhibited between Zimbabwe and Zambia was encouraging and a positive sign.
“We have seen a lot, we have learnt a lot today. We are grateful that you are working with Zimbabweans and we expect nothing but the best from you guys. We want you to keep up with the spirit and make sure you don’t let us down. We don’t want our country to be put in that situation. I’m surprised by the numbers I saw. You know, I thought I was going to see maybe 20 or 25 students but here we go, they are full of Zimbabwean students. It is a good sign. You have started it and definitely you will continue. You have a lot to learn, you have a lot of adjustments to do,” he said.
“I am happy that the CEO or the dean, no one reported to us misbehaving from you guys. As a country, it will be a shame when people start saying Zimbabwean students in Zambia are terrible for misbehaving. Please keep it up, you are young, you pass but I have heard that you are brilliant students. Some of you are doing nursing as I can see, some of you are doing medicine. I have with me Dr Israel Dube, I’m personally a physician.”
And Speaking at the same event, Eden University chief executive officer Kelvin Kaunda described the relation between Zambia and Zimbabwe as family.
He further disclosed that the university management decided that all foreign students would be subjected to the same fees as locals to avoid segregation.
“Honorable Minister, I knew that we have a number of students from Zimbabwe but I didn’t know that this is how many they are. This in itself attests to the fact that Zambia and Zimbabwe are twins. This also attests that they are much more free to be in Zambia than any part of the world because if they were not, certainly we would have not had this audience this morning. Honourable Minister, this is the Zimbabwean family in Zambia and we are so honored to have your presence this morning,” said Kaunda
“Honourable Minister, as a university, we hold the view that Zambia and Zimbabwe are but one family. And we are not only asking the leadership to be considerate without us having taken a step. It might interest you to know, Honourable Minister, that as a university, we have taken a very bold step in this very useful direction. Right now, the students coming from Zimbabwe and other countries are subjected to the same fees like the fellow Zambian students because we are one family. If we are doing this at an institutional level, we hold the view that this is something that can equally be achieved at a bilateral level through government to government.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean Ambassador to Zambia Charity Charama encouraged the students to use the historical ties between Zambia and Zimbabwe as a way of bonding together.
