HARARE – The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) has added to the growing demand for the acquittal and release of Nicole Chabata, a female O’ Level student who has been languishing at Chikurubi Female Prison since her arrest June this year.

Chabata is among nearly 80 opposition activists who have been detained following a police raid at former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) senator Jameson Timba’s Avondale home in Harare.

Now commonly referred to as the Avondale-78, the activists had congregated to celebrate the Day of the African Child, observed internationally every 16 June.

In a Tuesday statement, Zinasu gender secretary Lillian Tinotenda Muhwandavaka said the militant student rights group stands in solidarity with Chabata who is due to sit for her Ordinary Level exams next month.

Chabata, who registered to write 10 subjects under the Zimbabwe School Examination Council, risks missing her chance to take the exams due to her continued incarceration.

“The actions taken on Nicole reflect a disturbing trend of the regime trying to silence young voices that seek to promote social Justice and the rights of women,” Muhwandavaka said.

“The unlawful arrest of Nicole deprived her of an opportunity to finish her 2nd term and with schools reopening today she won’t be attending school like other students.

“This undermines her educational journey simply because she celebrated the hope, resilience and the fundamental rights every child deserves.

“It is disheartening that a student meant to sit for her O’ level exams in a month is going through such an unjust conviction.”

The student leader said Chabata and fellow women in prison were being “subjected to unnecessary trauma, health conditions and institutionalised personality traits”.

“We stand in solidarity with Nicole Chabata and many other females that were arrested without committing any wrongful crime with the Avondale 78.

“We demand that these cases be handled seriously such that Nicole can focus on her studies and sit for upcoming exams comfortably, with no weight of a wrongful conviction.”

The continued detention of a secondary school student by Zimbabwean authorities has become a new rallying front for the release of many government critics who have been jailed for their activism against poor governance and injustice under the Zanu PF led system.