Cape Town – At least 14 South Sudanese nationals, who were students at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe, are reportedly stranded in the southern African country after their government failed to provide them with air tickets to return home.
According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, the 14 were part of the 35 students from the east African country were studying at NUST on a government-to-government scholarship programme.
They graduated on Friday during a colourful graduation ceremony that saw President Emmerson Mnangagwa capping a record 3 290 graduates.
Voice of America reported that the South Sudanese students had no food and accommodation.
A South Sudanese, Makuei Maker Chuny, is among 14 students who are stranded in Zimbabwe after graduating from the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo. In this photo is Chuny and @EZRATSHISA@InfoMinZW @Jamwanda2 @nickmangwana pic.twitter.com/6YYXCpXBmZ
— Studio 7 (@Studio7VOA) November 20, 2021
“We have been here for six years and government was supposed to provide us two-way tickets, coming and going. Already we have only used one ticket, that is, coming from South Sudan to Zimbabwe … This is a very desperate situation. The school now is going to be closed, there would be no water supply on campus, no electricity. How can you survive? Moreover, we used to have a warden here but now there is no warden. We will be left in the building alone and it’s not good for our health, the report quoted their representative, Makuei Maker Chuny as saying.
They asked the South Sudan government “to provide us with air tickets as soon as possible”.
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