SW Radio Africa reports that students at the National University of Science and Technology at Bulawayo have rioted on campus, during protests calling for Mugabe to stand down.  There has also been a statement from the President of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, Clever Bere, that the country’s students won’t stand by if the election results aren’t what people know they should be:

Students at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo rioted on campus Wednesday, demanding that Robert Mugabe step down as Chancellor of the University. The demonstration is said to have turned violent when riot police entered the campus and started beating up students indiscriminately. Angry students then turned on one member of the police force who was brandishing a pistol, and stoned him. Several cars and buildings were stoned during the skirmishes.

The students are angry about the poor educational standards in the country and blame Mugabe’s misrule for their plight. They also demanded a release of presidential election results, which have still not been announced 18 days after Zimbabweans voted. Zimbabwe National Students Union President Clever Bere warned Mugabe that students would make the country ‘ungovernable’ if he tried to ‘steal’ the election.

The students have declared they will go on an indefinite class boycott while they wait for new a Chancellor to be installed. They said Mugabe’s term expired on March 28th. Meanwhile another statement from ZINASU says over 300 students at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare demonstrated against the withholding of presidential election results. A branch of the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ), which operates from campus, was shut down during the protest.

Source, and more at Zimbabwe Today, who add this little nugget:

A student leader told me: “Until the election results are known, there will be no classes at this campus. Mugabe should know that, as students, we are prepared to die for democracy in our country.”

Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki has been trying to defend his stance on Zimbabwe against growing criticism, even from within his own party.  Apparently…

“The solution to the problem of Zimbabwe lies in the hands of the people of Zimbabwe. In our engagement with the situation, we needed to talk continuously at all times with both the ruling party and the opposition.”

Uh, hello?  The talking doesn’t appear to be working - and having the South African authorities release weapons to the ‘interim’ government isn’t what I’d call “helping”.  It’s also notable that Mbeki failed to mention Zimbabwe during yesterday’s US Security Council meeting - ironic, since he’d called it himself to discuss how best to bring peace to Africa’s conflicts.  If he doesn’t do something useful, and soon, he’s quite likely to have one of those conflicts on his own border - and yet he seems to be the only person who doesn’t realise this.