by Rudo Saungweme

University of Zimbabwe student board yesterday welcomed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as their new Chancellor.

In his speech, UZ Secretary General Tafadzwa Ponela, a Political Administration student said, “On behalf of the University of Zimbabwe student board, it is my singular honour to be accorded this rare opportunity for congratulating Your Excellency for the conferment of a Doctor of Laws Honorary Degree. We also wish to congratulate you for winning the 30 July harmonised elections convincingly. This shows that the whole nation has confidence in your leadership.

“As students of University of Zimbabwe we welcome you as our Chancellor. We are confident that your vision of 2030 of becoming a middle income economy will create opportunity for those who graduated today and those who graduated before them. We will continue to live in your quote which says, ‘Working together in unity, we shall leapfrog and overturn those who led before us,’” he said.

President Mnangagwa was conferred with an honourary Doctorate Degree in Laws and it was his first time to officiate the University of Zimbabwe graduation ceremony as University Chancellor.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo said, “This is a historic graduation which is first under our new Chancellor President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. It is also the first under the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Professor Amon Murwira and also my first appearance as Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe. I am committed and ready to deliver.”

University of Zimbabwe graduates were happy to be the first group to be capped by President Mnangagwa at the University.