Copperbelt University (CBU) has been closed indefinitely following a spate of riots that rocked the institution since Sunday.
The riots were sparked by management’s decision to ban squatting at campus and further following the suspension of five students’ union leaders who were accused of inciting their fellow students to boycott classes and allegedly beat up a lecturer who was found conducting classes.
CBU vice-chancellor Naison Ngoma announced the closure at press briefing held at the campus in Kitwe today.
Prof Ngoma said the decision to close the second highest institution was arrived at after an emergency senate meeting convened earlier today.
“As of today the school has closed following the chronological events of riots. The school has closed until further notice and all students are required to surrender university property,” Prof Ngoma said.
The vice chancellor also said that he was affected by the two demands by some Patriotic Front (PF) officials that he steps aside and that he privately owned a boarding house.
He said there was no reason for him to resign because he believed he had managed the affairs of the institution well as he believed this was a challenging job.
Prof Ngoma warned that action would be taken against any management that would be found to have been behind the confusion at CBU.
Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) in Kitwe has joined the others in urging the Copperbelt University (CBU) management to re-instate the five student union leaders that were suspended for allegedly inciting students to boycott classes.
PF Kitwe District chairman Alfred Kaira said the approach being used by management to ban squatting at the institution was putting undue pressure on the Government.
Mr Kaira said in a statement in Kitwe today that Government had given instructions to begin preparatory works under the Private Public Partnership programme to construct new hostels.
He said students should be allowed to share bed spaces and urged them to avoid damaging public property.
Prof….Ngoma is a social crown and a failure in real life sense, u cant escalate this simple problem to the point of closing an institution…shame
Pro Ngoma is a crook and has no heart for poor students at his institution. The only reason why he doesn’t want squatting at CBU is because he has blocks of flats near CBU which he has turned into a boarding house for students to make a lot of money. he knows if students squat, no business for him. Ngoma should know that it is not the desire of students to squart. they have no alternative since the university has no enough rooms. What students want is to get that Education by all means. Ngoma should stop disturbing our poor students. President Sata, please look into this and remove that corrupt Ngoma from the University.
Has education in zambia gone to the dogs or the dogs have come into education????… Why so much student unrest in the country???
You f00lish a55holes, where do you fnckers think students will be living if you can’t provide them with shelter. The worst thing to do was to tell them that they can’t squat!!!!
Close it forevever! The only university worth keeping is Muchinga University.
you maggot!
Just by looking at the kind of Ministers (to be specific, the Minister of Education) makes me feel like puking! The fcukers don’t care about the people who put them in power.
Shutter this inferior institution. It doesn’t serve any purpose!!
@Nubian monthly period.u are f**ckd up…..get that!!!!!
@Nubian, i support u. this inferior college shud be shut indefinitely
U ka lil’ ho, i must admit, u confuse me sometimes with your tuma flip-flop statements. 🙂
Which university did you attend? Harvard? You silly C.U.N.T.
This is very sad.I hope a solution will soon be found.
what is wrong with this demn(naison). Things where just okey and all of the sudden he just brings demn decision, no sqatting, which has ended up in a rediculous and embarassing episode due to poor thinking of management. I thought its logic, before enforce something you first bring alternatives. Even the very boarding houses are all occupied, where do you espect the students to go? Think ngoma will doubt learnedness.
Ati Senate Meeting atase, the Senate and Student leadership are both foolish. Somethings can be dealt with internally without throwing them in Public domain. What kind of Prof are these who cant avoid potential problems but always waiting for the waste scenarios. The Senate members should not be allowed to get full Salaries in such cases. Students also please your approach of beating a lecturer who just doing his part of the Job is highly unacceptable and such students should identified and reported to the police.
Iwe ka ndobo! don’t support riotus behaviour,please. how can those UPND cadres in the name of students beat up their lecturer? and you are proud of that.
HH issued a directive some hours ago, it was really a shallow one. the University i went to, i was taught a lot of things patience, hardwork, respecting ones property, never react when you are the pick of your anger etc.
iwe ka washingston you as so brainwashed that you differential between right and wrong… and never went any unversity!!!
The question must ask yourself is that why are all these kids rioting and protesting??… start your list from those secondary school kids in northern province, central province, Hone, UNZA, mulugushi and CBU,,, are they all getting directives from HH?
you are pointing yourself in the wrong direction and that wont make your PF popular,,, admit there is a problem blame no one and just solve it,,, thats what makes an ordinary man a hero!!!
@Washington.I am sure if u went through university,then u must understand newtons third law of motion.
Its sad to learn that things have ended like this at CBU. Students population is about 14500 against 3500 bed spaces and to make matters worse he even allocated a room to his own daughter a move seen as not fair by all means . in was at cbu and even as way back as 1999 the VC then Professor John Lungu and his predecessor Professor Musonda under stood the accommodation crises at this University and since they did not have a definite solution they allowed squatting and they found alternative boarding houses and they even provided a bus ease transportation for the students from morning up to 20 hours everyday . As a result off campus students more felt cared for and things flowed well . You cant just come and discard whatever you predecessors did. VIVA ba Lungu and Musonda
Did you actually graduate from CBU? If you did I am actually very worried about the caliber of graduates CBU is producing. I hope you are working on your English. When you have sanitation facilities being used by 14500 people when they were built for 3500 people, the risk of communicable diseases is extremely high. Apart from that CBU hostels were not meant to be a business venture for students!
Chekov! Stop being petty or even flatter yourself about your English. What makes you think yours is any better? Did you read through what you posted? I don’t think so but i managed to get the sense out of your posted mess. You can also do the same in future… just get the message and jog on
Ba Chekov are you telling us that nobody knew how to count until management fount itself in a situation where there were 14000 students against 3500 bed spaces. some one wasnt being hygienic when they decided to accept all those students. where do you want someone from Lundazi on a bursary to sleep? anyway the situation is more complex than we think.
Ba BB and Dr doom. There is nothing wrong with what Chekov has posted, but as usual trolls like you find something wrong with reason. Please tell me what ‘in what at’ means. Imagine a toilet meant for 10 people being used by 100 people some of whom have come from Lundazi as you have put it and have never used a conventional toilet seat. I leave the rest to your imagination. Also why would you encourage students to be subletting their rooms when they are on a bursary? That is clearly exploiting the vulnerable.
PF is beginning to sound impartial!
Good for you Kitwe PF. Progress in the interests of all, is what we care about.
Am surprised also that pf kitwe branch sounds very realistic.
yakosa baProf. no pulling a fast one. elyo takuli nakamwembeshi. one man bo. Wawa Prof Neison. Ask us veterans of child behavior correctors. we shall tell you that never antagonize student power but always buy time and isolate the vocal ones not by expelling them. Recommend exchange programmes for them to do pharmacy in Tanzania or pig washing (Agric) in Romania. send amayos and momas to Botswana for sports and bargain with Lecturers to give tests & exams soon upon their return. you are assured of 100% failure rate. by so doing you get rid of trouble makers, then you go VP (scot free). For free tutorials call 0978 000010
ZWD reveals that our big man collapsed at his house and the indunas surrounded his palace. Yes or no my prayer is to see him well again for good comedy.
@ fwenu,
see him well kwisa? namumanika napamatako atifye afwe, bafikala pretence isn’t good at all. be yourself!!!
@WASHINGTON ULI ITOLE…WANSENKESHA SANA…..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
@ fwenu,
see him well kwisa? namumanika napamatako ati afwe, bafi.kala pretence isn’t good be yourself!!
@ kandobo,
if you never went to any university that is your problem, not mine. i’m not making pf any popular i never voted for it was just told by my girlfriend in Zambia that Sata has scoped the presidency.
already the hone problem has been solved i think you know that. what hurts me most is those students beating up their lecturer and you are happy about that, uleimya namabondo mumulu.
u fool thr is a video showing hw dat lecture manhandled a poor student & want 2 save face….
infact his a foolish Dean of students …
watch d video b4 u make wild statements
Let the students suffer. They supported this oppressive regime. Enjoy suckers!
Proff. Ngoma is mess of himself nowonder no one favored his appointment as VC except his masters!
l see a dark cloud over Zambia …Pray if you do.
Seriously, Mr. Naison Ngoma needs therapy, and I’m talking about a brain booster. On the contrary, without a shadow of doubts, I do have respect for him but let him not tempt me to withdraw and regret the fact that I ever respected him.. My prayer is see forth Sound-Mind leaders. Its such infuriating and disappointing. He has to step down. More than 100% in favour of that.. Thanks awarded to those PF officials who are in favour of us CBU students.
Praise Jehovah and God bless the Copperbelt University.. YS4C
These MF make me sick. He is an ass hole. Education is a right and time wasted for these young kids is never recovered. Fck these negros
I DOCUMENT RESEARCH ON TERTIARY EDUCATION IN ZAMBIA AND I AM SAD TO SAY THAT NO UNZA GRADUATE HAS COMPLETED A FULL ACADEMIC PROGRAMME OF STUDY WITHOUT EXPERIENCING A CLOSURE OF THE UNIVERSITY AT ANY TIME DURING THEIR COURSE SINCE 1974 WITH ONE OF THE MAJOR CLOSURES AROUSED BY PROTESTS BY STUDENTS CENTERED ON ANGOLA AND MOZAMBIQUE WARS AND OTHER IMPERIALIST DOCTRINES STUDENTS DISAGREED WITH.
IN MY RESEARCH I ALSO NOTE THAT ONE OF THE MOST SEVERE CLOSURES WAS A 9 MONTH CLOSURE OF CBU! I CONCLUDE IN MY RESERCH THAT THE REMEDY OF CLOSURE ALBEIT LEGAL SEEMS TO BE THE ESCAPE ROUTE ADOPTED BY SENATES WHILE DAMAGE TO UNIVERSITY AND PRIVATE PRIVATE PROPERTY LKE STONING CARS AND BLOCKING INNOCENT ROADS IS THE STUDENTS’ OPTION TO VENT THEIR ANGER…BOTH ROUTES HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE…
INNEFFECTIVE
CBU is not mandated to provide bed space to students. All they need to do is provide the learning environment (lecturers, teaching materials, lecture theatres etc) to the students. Where the student comes from is not their baby to nurse. The private sector should now come in to build student hostels on a commercial basis. Go to Europe, Universities do not provide student accommodation and you will never find such closures. All they do is to give you cash to look for your own accommodation.
Iwe Zambia is a developing country don’t compare it to European countries. Here in Asia universities provide accommodation for all the students. Go to Malaysia, India even China and you will discover that all the students are accommodated by the university.
They say ‘Bad Morals’ corrupt good ones! This VC is so foolish and childish man, who within one year of affice has been in office there has only been confusion. Foolish him that’s all!!!!!
When is our institution re-openin?? Am really hating this delay in opening. BaPf pliz do sumthin cz we gata get back 2 our books as early as we cud cz dis term hasnot bin a serious term