BY DUMISANI KUFARUWENGA

In the late 80’s, Zimbabwe had only one University. The University of Zimbabwe.
Because there was only one University, the competition for admission thereat was cut-throat.
It didn’t have to be. We now know that a University degree is not a passport to success in Zimbabwe.
I digress.
At the material time, the University was the epitome of both social sophistication and academic excellence
Few former University students of the late 80’s can now afford the meals that the University served in Swinton, New Hall, Carr Saunders and Manfred Hodson.
Yes, Manfred Hodson, the epicenter of University hooliganism where Factor the hooligan crashed the front foyer glass door in a drunken stupor and severely injured himself, and bleeding profusely, shouted;
“Individual freedom is
of paramount
importance. Its my
democratic right to
inflict pain on myself, if
I choose to.”
Yes, Manfred Hodson, the headquarters of Marcos the Hooligan who led a band of followers in the thick of night to steal ladies’ panties from the washing line of Swinton Hall.
Yes, Manfred Hodson where Ras Charlie The Albino and crew smoked dagga from the third floor balcony and played soothing reggae music on Sunday afternoon.
Being a hooligan was a tittle of honour.
And when there was a Hall braai, a hooligan from New Complex 2 smuggled a prostitute into the campus and when the other hooligans recognized her, they mobbed her and there was pandemonium;
“Prostitute, prostitute,
insert your stick into
her tin and stir it “
When the University Amendment Act threatened the very existence and autonomy of the University, Douglas Mwonzora rose to the podium of the Great Hall and spoke eloquently against it and challenged a Zanu PF Government Minister called Karimanzira to a public debate.
Douglas Mwonzora is now a great ally of Zanu PF.
Why did we bother?
And that is when Paulo The Deadly and Donvant Moyo (Mudhara Mudhara) displayed dazzling skills on the soccer pitch when they played for the University team.
And that is when a boy from Shurugwi called Joseph Hove who is now a medical Doctor threw stones at the riot police whilst protesting, alongside other hooligans, against the University Amendment Act.
And that is when student leaders Arthur Guyise Oliver Mutambara and Enock Chikweche, who changed his name to Munyaradzi Gwisai, were both raided and whisked away by the police for publishing “seditious material” against the Government.
Above all, there was pay-out.
Pay-out was a term used to describe the disbursement to students of the cash portion of the Government loan and grant extended to students.
Yes, believe it or not, at one point the Government of Zimbabwe extended loans and grants to University students to cater for their tertiary education. The Government stopped it’s generosity when Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube formed the MDC. The University is the breeding ground for the opposition, the Government reasoned.
Again, l digress.
Pay-out day was something else.
The University had a deal with Standard Chartered Bank.
The University would issue students with cheques payable at Standard Chartered Bank, and the bank would come to the University campus to encash the cheques.
The encashment of the cheques was pay-out!
With cash in their pockets, the University hooligans invaded the city center and the various drinking places.
Terreskane along Fife Avenue, Ambassador Hotel along Kwame Nkrumah, Hotel Elizabeth at the corner of Robert Mugabe and Julias Nyerere, Job’s Nite Club, Queens Hotel, Bonanza Nite Club, Archipelago, among others.
Those were days when “cabbage” was the in thing. It was a dance where you clenched your fists and wriggled your body back and forth whilst cycling your clenched fists.
And the music boomed;
“I am from nowhere, l
have no father
I am from nowhere, l
have no brother
I came to work, to
make some money
I came to work, to
make some money”
And the youthful hooligans would drink and dance the night away, and the ladies of the night would snuggle close to their pockets full of pay-out to offer their lethal wares.
And the hooligans would take the girls to the University campus, and boast the next morning at breakfast about their “imports.”
It was not unusual to see hooligans queing at the University clinic for treatment for infections associated with sex .
They’d boast;
“A bull that fights is
recognized by the
scars it displays.”
Laughter, as they drank subsidized beer at the University Student Union bar while being served by a popular barman called Mudhara John.
But this was the period when HIV was discovered.
Did we loose hooligans to PAY-OUT?