wfn.org | Land conflict in Zimbabwe not threatening school, Murapa says

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

April 9, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-31-71B{166}

NOTE: A head and shoulders photo of Rukudzo Murapa is available.

By Linda Green*

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS)- Confrontational land reform efforts in Zimbabwe are
not a threat to Africa University,  according to Rukudzo Murapa, head of the
nine-year-old  United Methodist-related institution. 

"I would like to assure the church worldwide and in particularly the United
Methodist Church in the United States that their investment in Africa
University is safe," said the vice-chancellor.

Leaders of the school have received inquiries from church members after news
reports of blacks overtaking the lands of commercial white farmers,
sometimes with violent and fatal results.  

"These really are political developments like those in any other country,"
Murapa said. 
When there are demonstrations in Chicago, they don't affect Northwestern
University. If there is a demonstration in New York, Columbia University is
not impacted, he said.  "But because we are a small society, any little drop
seems to clatter loud and cause certain fears."

Reflecting on the university's relationship with Robert Mugabe, the
country's president,  Murapa called him the first graduate of Africa
University because he received the first honorary degree.  "Mr. Mugabe
honors, respects and cherishes that degree. He is committed to Africa
University." The university also has significant relationships with key
ministers of government, he said.

While there has been conflict on some farms across the country, Murapa said
the university's farmland has not been threatened in any way. He compared
the political fight over commercial land to the sit-ins staged during the
Civil Rights era of the 60s in the United States. "The sit-ins at the farms
bring the issue to a head," he said. "You cannot just dismiss those people,
you have to find a solution for their issues."

The solution will occur once the people seeking justice are engaged in
conversations with the white farmers, Murapa believes. "Clearly there will
be resistance as there was resistance in the United States but over time,
with intervention of goodwill and persist determination, there will be light
at the end of the tunnel."

The issues surrounding land are about people who have been deprived for
several generations and who are now attempting to reclaim a piece of the
land. 

Disputes can be traced to the 1950s when the government allocated land on
the basis of race. Blacks were forcibly removed from fertile to arid areas
and whites received the most productive land. "Hence the kind of poverty
that we grew into is a manifestation of injustice," Murapa said.

Since the country's independence in 1980, the land issue has not been
resolved. White farmers possess 70 percent of the best land. The country was
plunged into a long crisis after Mugabe launched a drive to seize the land
of the commercial white farmers for black resettlement.  It is the
president's plan to confiscate at least 11 million acres of the 12 million
hectares held by Zimbabwe's white farmers and redistribute more than 3,400
farms to black Africans. The president has said the farmers should receive
compensation for improvements only, not for the land.

Mugabe has allowed veterans of the war for independence to occupy hundreds
of white farms since February 2000 and has not adhered to court orders to
evict them. Since the occupations, seven farmers have been killed.

"The American Civil Rights movement is a classic example of what is
happening in Zimbabwe," Murapa said. "The issues that are driving people are
basically the same."  He referred to the 100-days long bus boycott in
Birmingham, Ala., as political because the people knew of no other means to
put pressure on the government. When the Supreme Court agreed that there was
injustice, the segregation laws were struck down.

"This is pressure here to change the injustice of the past," he said. 

While the issues are of a political nature, Murapa said negative aspects of
the problems have been blown out of proportion by world media. When the
problem is seen, it is seen as a white/ black schism and therefore blacks do
not like whites and certain blacks are accused as racists, he said. 

In the United States and particularly within the United Methodist Church,
Murapa said people have been under the impression that whites in Zimbabwe
were under constant attack by militant blacks and that all farms, including
the land on which Africa University sits, was been threatened.  He said some
whites also assumed they could not visit Africa University because they
would be assaulted along the three-hour trek from the capitol city of Harare
to the school.

 People with different agendas have deliberately distorted the facts or news
surrounding the land issues, Murapa said.

 "I'm not defending the government of Zimbabwe," he said. "At the political
level, governments come and go and governments make mistakes during the
period of their tenure and they must be criticized for that. But when
citizens criticize it for issues it is not engaged in, they become unethical
and unprofessional."

There is a fundamental issue of justice, but the question Murapa asks is if
a foundation can be built upon which justice will thrive. "You cannot build
if the foundation that exists is skewed in favor of one group against the
other. You have to level the ground," he said. 

There are some white farmers who support Mugabe's land redistribution
efforts but they oppose the seizures.  "Commercial farmers agree that there
is an imbalance of land but they disagree on possible solutions," he said.

Murapa called it "despicable and regrettable" that there are young men and
women on the farms who have turned violent and have assumed a right that has
not been given to them legally. "We must find all ways of putting on
political pressure in the search for justice but we must refrain from
anything that even suggests a violent confrontation," he said.

In that context, Murapa said he is confident that Africa University is
secure because it is seen as a contributor to the search for justice.

To those people who thought Africa University was in jeopardy and called the
school's leadership cowards for not speaking out against the government,
Murapa said it is not the university's responsibility to do so. 

"We have to concern ourselves with the continued security, growth and
development of this institution," he said. "In the process, we who are the
senior managers, have to be tactful about how we maneuver ourselves in an
atmosphere that may react or respond in a irrational and unexplainable
manner."

Charged with piloting Africa University, Murapa said it is his
responsibility to read the environment and manage it to the best of his
ability. "It does not always pay for me to get on the top of the mountain
and denounce."

How many times has the president of Columbia University made public
statements about something the New York Police Department has done, he
asked, especially if there was no direct attack on a student or issue at the
campus.

"You do not have the presidents of American universities jumping up and
shouting against government, so why should you expect that of the president
of Africa University?" he asked. 

Murapa wants to assure the United Methodist Church that no sit-ins are
occurring within 100 miles of the university.  Some farmers in surrounding
areas have received letters alerting them that the government is considering
their farms for black resettlement, he said. The concentration is in the
Harare area, three hours away.  The fear of some United Methodists outside
Africa indicates a lack of geographical knowledge about Zimbabwe and the
distance between Mutare and Harare, he suggested.

University officials want Africa University to be seen as an outpost of the
United Methodist Church and as part of the church's mission. It has 20
countries represented in its student body and is steadily positioning itself
as a pan-African institution of academic excellence.

"Africa University is doing remarkably well thanks to the goodwill and
support of the United Methodist Church and the international organizations
that have come to our assistance," Murapa said. 

But, at the same time it is facing a financial dilemma, which has the
university and its board of directors working to find a solution to a
projected shortfall of $1.2 million for the 2001-2002 academic year. The
university needs this money to operate efficiently and effectively. 
 
During the April 2-4 board of directors meeting, university officials said
the shortfall is the result of a negative macroeconomic environment. The
environment is characterized by an inflation rate of more than 60 percent, a
400 percent increase in utility costs, a 400 percent increase in postage and
a persistent fuel shortage. Throughout the country, there is critical
shortage of foreign currency which impacts negatively on general commodity
prices.  The country also is experiencing 60 percent unemployment as well as
a pandemic of AIDS/HIV and other social difficulties impacting it and the
rest of the continent.

Reportedly, one in four people from age 14 to 45 are HIV positive. "It is
mind-boggling to think about what will happen to the population," Murapa
said.

Although he sees no end to the harsh realities any time in the future,
Murapa said the university must put in place that which will ensure its
mission of educating young men and women for tomorrow's positions. 

Because of  economic and political problems, students are unable to pay
their fees at Africa University, Murapa said.  "We are finding it difficult
to recruit because the people do not have the money."

Those who do apply require more scholarship assistance, he said, but funds
are limited.  "Many of our students who have gone into their second, third
and fourth years are having to drop out, not because of grades, but because
of economics."

Africa University officials are disappointed that the 2000 General
Conference did not raise apportionment dollars to help the university
increase its bottom line.  "It placed an insurmountable burden on us in
terms of realizing the objectives set forth in our strategic plan," Murapa
said.

In 1992, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry made a
commitment to Africa University and the apportionment was set at $10
million. "This was at a time when the university had just 40 students and
was just starting."  There are currently more than 870 students enrolled and
the strategic plans calls for enrollment to reach 1,200 students by the year
2004. "We are still on the same budget from 1992 and one has to perform
miracles to develop new frontiers or programs." Murapa said.

To help ease the financial burdens plaguing the university, its development
committee has launched a $40 million campaign seeking more support over the
next five years.

In spite of its financial dilemma, the university is in the process of
developing partnerships with a number of institutions on the continent and
is currently developing bi-lateral relationships with selected universities
in neighboring Mozambique for joint master's degree programs.

These partnerships with other African institutions are significant since
traditionally universities on the continent have developed bi-lateral
relationships with schools in Western Europe and the United States. "We are
beginning to forge that effort," Murapa said. "We are not dropping our
relationships with universities in the states. We are enhancing them and we
would also like to move toward developing more collaboration with the
historically black colleges in the United States."

Africa University is the only degree-granting institution in Africa related
to the international United Methodist Church. The university opened in March
1992 with 40 students and degree offerings in agriculture and natural
resources and in theology. Today the 871 student enrollment represents 20
African nationalities. The university offers undergraduate degrees in
agriculture and natural resources, education, humanities and social
sciences, management and administration, and theology. Masters degrees are
offered in business administration and in theological studies.  Planning is
also underway for a faculty (college) of medical sciences.
# # #
*Green is news director of the Nashville, Tenn., office of United Methodist
News Service, the official news agency of the church.  

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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