LUSAKA – While the University of Zambia (UNZA) continues to parade itself as the "Highest Learning Institution" in the land, a walk through its hostel corridors tells a different, more pungent story. It is a story of raw sewage, institutional neglect, and a leadership that has allowed the "Intellectual Hub" of Zambia to devolve into a Victorian-era slum.

The recent viral TikTok exposé by Tanya Malama Fooks (video/7619375583868243203) has finally stripped away the veneer of academic prestige, revealing the literal filth in which our future leaders are expected to study. But the statistics recently confirmed by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mundia Muya are even more damning: a sewer system designed for 4,000 students is now being forced to serve 28,000 residents.

The Dean’s Squalid Legacy

Where is the Dean of Students in this crisis? The Office of the Dean is explicitly mandated with student welfare, hostel hygiene, and sanitation. Yet, under their watch, "UNZA Squalor" has become a normalized rite of passage. Students report sharing a single functional toilet among three hostels. In some blocks, the stench of human waste is so pervasive it clings to the clothes of the learners.

To call this "poor management" is a polite fiction; it is a human rights violation. The Education Permanent Secretary, Dr. Kelvin Mambwe, was right to call out the "lapses in management." When the President has to direct the Zambia National Service (ZNS) to intervene in university toilets, the Dean’s office has effectively abdicated its duty.

The Budget of Broken Promises

The numbers are a slap in the face. While UNZA Student Union (UNZASU) President Mwanto Kabaso notes that K170 million is required to overhaul this crumbling infrastructure, the national budget for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) remains a pathetic 1% of total expenditure—far below the 5% target set in the 8th National Development Plan.

Where have the "student maintenance fees" gone? Parents are paying for a "learning environment" but are receiving a "public health hazard." The tragic death of student Emmanuel Bwalya, who reportedly fell into a water-filled pit linked to these very failures, is the ultimate price of this administrative lethargy.

A Continental Warning: The South African Mirror

Zambia only needs to look south to see its future if this rot continues. In South Africa, years of "cadre deployment" and the awarding of tenders to incompetent, politically-connected firms have led to a "systemic failure" of infrastructure. Organizations like Afriforum report that only 13% of South African sewage plants meet compliance standards, leading to cholera outbreaks and the literal collapse of urban centers.

UNZA is currently on that same trajectory. By ignoring the 700% increase in student population relative to infrastructure, the management is presiding over a "managed decline" that mirrors the worst failures in Pretoria and Abuja.

Conclusion

A university that trains engineers cannot fix its own pipes. A university that trains doctors exposes its students to cholera. The "UNZA experience" should be about academic rigor, not navigating rivers of effluent to get to a lecture hall.

The Dean of Students and the entire management team must stop hiding behind "lack of funds" and start answering for the K170 million hole in their survival plan. If ZNS is the only thing standing between UNZA and a total health catastrophe, then the university’s leadership is no longer fit for purpose.