3 HB 129-16 HC 1250-16 FINAL ORDER (SIC) 1. That the decision of 1st respondent in his capacity as the Vice Chancellor of the second respondent to suspend all the three applicants be and is hereby declared unlawful and is accordingly set aside. 2. That the letters of suspension be and are hereby declared null and void and of no force or effect and are hereby set aside. INTERIM RELIEF GRANTED That pending the confirmation of the Provisional Order the applicants are granted the following relief (sic) 1. That the decision by the 1st respondent to suspend all three applicants dated 11th April 2016 for alleged breach of unspecified sections of Ordinance No 2 of 2000 be and is hereby suspended. 2. That the decision to bar the applicants from visiting any of the respondent’s campuses be and is hereby set aside. 3. Pending finalization of this matter 1st and 2nd respondents be and are hereby ordered to allow all three applicants to sit and write their end of semester examination (s).” The applicants admit having received a WhatsApp message encouraging students to attend a protest in Zvishavane at the beginning of the semester on 17 February 2016 to express displeasure at the University’s decision to open a satellite campus in Zvishavane for a number of reasons set out in the message. The message had gone viral on social media and they say all that they did was to pass it on to their friends. This was in February 2016. When the semester commenced there was no such protest and nothing really came out of that message. Indeed the University authorities also did not act upon it until 22 April 2016, more than two months later, when they served suspension letters on the applicants, which suspensions have not been prosecuted. As it is now, end of semester examinations have commenced having started on 19 May 2016. The suspensions mean that the applicants cannot take those examinations which is prejudicial to them in a big way. Failure to take the examinations would mean that they would have to repeat and would be unable to progress to the next stage of their studies. In the first applicant’s case, he will not graduate. Section 8(3)(d) of the Midlands State University Act [Chapter 25:21] provides: “Subject to subsections (4) and (5), the Vice Chancellor may expel or suspend, indefinitely or for such period as he may specify, any student or group of students.”