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The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) has written to Polytechnics and Teachers College in Zimbabwe demanding them to allow students to make payments in local currency.
The student body has given these institutions a 48-hour ultimatum to action their demands.
Representing the student body, Kossam Ncube and Partners have written to identified colleges.
The institutions of higher learning stand accused of pegging fees in US dollars only against government policy which emphasises the use of the weaker but more accessible RTGS dollar.
“Your accounts department has been issuing invoices exclusively in United States Dollars and has provided only a USD account for payment of the fees, requiring that payments through the bank can only be made into that account.
“The position they have taken is that they are not accepting payments in Zimbabwean dollars. In essence, your institution is essentially requiring payment of fees exclusively in US dollars contrary to the laws of the land.
“May we, therefore, have clarification from yourselves regarding payments of fees exclusively in US dollars at your institution?
“Let us hear from you on the above within 48 hours of this letter, (failure of which) we shall pursue our remedies in terms of the law,” reads a letter to Harare Poly delivered on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe’s market is slowly rejecting the heavily devalued RTGS dollar which is now trading at US$1 to ZW$10,000 on the black market.
Informal traders and some small retailers in the southern parts of Zimbabwe are now rejecting the currency as a result of its failure to retain value.
The rejection has however, affected ordinary citizens, civil servants especially, who earn in the local currency and have been forced to change it on Zimbabwe’s rampant street market.
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