Mugabe calls for "patriotic" students

President Robert Mugabe on Monday said the government wanted Zimbabwe's universities and tertiary colleges to produce "graduates that are patriotic and loyal" rather than "enemies of the state". Speaking at commemorations to mark Heroes Day, held annually to honour those who died during the 16-year war for independence, Mugabe said Zimbabwe's education system was turning out graduates who had become enemies of the liberation struggle. "We have noticed in the past that our institutions have produced graduates - should I say graduates? - who have become enemies of the state. We have to reshape and reorientate these 'graduates' to cherish the African personality which Kwame Nkrumah talked about," Mugabe told thousands of people gathered at the national shrine honouring the fallen just outside the capital, Harare. "If our institutions have the capacity to produce enemies of the state, then they are not good at all," Mugabe said in reference to past confrontations with student demonstrators, who have protested against state corruption, economic mismanagement and human rights abuses. In the last few years the government has introduced a youth training programme condemned by human rights groups for creating a ruling-party militia, known as the Green Bombers, which has been used against the opposition. Graduation from the youth programme has increasingly become a criterion for university enrolment or access to public sector jobs. The secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Welshman Ncube, told IRIN the government's intention to create "loyal graduates" would fail. "The tragedy of such plans is that the idea comes from people who have an infinite number of degrees attempting to curtail academic freedom and expression of thought, which is what universities are in essence. Here is a group of people who have benefited from academic freedom, but would like others not to enjoy that freedom," Ncube said.