{"id":343556,"date":"2017-08-09T17:09:47","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T17:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=343556"},"modified":"2017-08-09T17:09:47","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T17:09:47","slug":"zimbabwe-to-build-1-billion-mugabe-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/zimbabwe-to-build-1-billion-mugabe-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe to build $1 billion Mugabe university"},"content":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe is to build a $1 billion (\u00a3770m) university dedicated to the man accused of leading his country to the brink of economic collapse, Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Moyo, minister of tertiary education, told reporters it was a fitting tribute to the 93-year-old president’s “commitment to education and his exemplary leadership”.<\/p>\n
It is unclear where the money will come from in a country where unemployment and poverty is endemic.<\/p>\n
Economic output has halved since 2000.<\/p>\n
Last year, more than four million Zimbabweans were in need of food aid due to drought. The country was once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa.<\/p>\n
‘Populism that defies logic’<\/strong> Another $200,000 has been set aside for an endowment fund for research and innovation at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe University, which will focus on science and technology, Mr Moyo said.<\/p>\n He would not be drawn on where the funds were coming from.<\/p>\n The announcement of the new university was met with derision from opposition parties, which hope to end Mr Mugabe’s 37-year reign at next year’s general elections.<\/p>\n “This is populism that defies logic,” said Obert Gutu, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). “It is meant to stroke Mugabe’s ego because we know this government is broke.”<\/p>\n Zimbabwe already struggles to pay for education – as well as public services and infrastructure like roads and hospitals – spending 90% of the country’s annual budget on wages.<\/p>\n The MDC says the money would be better spent on Zimbabwe’s existing universities, where students face crumbling infrastructure and a lack of accommodation.<\/p>\n According to state media, Mr Mugabe has seven earned degrees and 11 honorary degrees.<\/p>\n He is a trained teacher and after coming to power in 1980, his government massively increased the provision of state education to the previously disadvantaged black majority.<\/p>\n Zimbabwe recently had the highest literacy rate in Africa, at 90% of the population.<\/p>\n Mr Mugabe’s wife Grace was awarded a controversial PhD from the University of Zimbabwe in 2014.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zimbabwe is to build a $1 billion (\u00a3770m) university dedicated to the man accused of leading his country to the brink of economic collapse, Robert Mugabe. Jonathan Moyo, minister of tertiary education, told reporters it was a fitting tribute to the 93-year-old president’s “commitment to education and his exemplary leadership”. It is unclear where the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[562,563,10046],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDespite this, the cabinet has agreed to spend $800,000 building the new university in Mazowe, 35km (20 miles) outside the capital Harare.<\/p>\n