Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti has launched a scathing attack on University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo, following the expulsion of striking lecturers and the suspension of student activists.
Biti condemned the move as an assault on academic freedom, calling Mapfumo an “arrogant and incompetent” figure aligned with authoritarian interests.
“Prof Mapfumo is an arrogant incompetent Vice Chancellor who mirrors the glaring ignorance and fascism of those he serves,” Biti said.
He accused Mapfumo of reducing Zimbabwe’s flagship university to a political pawn.
“Universities are citadels of the highest forms of cerebral engagement. They cannot be reduced to rag-tag subcommittees of a greedy illiterate parasitic elite,” he said.
Biti, a seasoned lawyer and politician, called for the restoration of dignity and autonomy at UZ, warning that the current trajectory threatens the core values of education and independent thought in the countr
