7,888 Reasons to Celebrate: Inside MSU’s 27th Graduation Ceremony

If you were anywhere near MSU Kwekwe Campus on 27 August, you’d have felt it before you saw it — the drumming, the ululation, the sheer buzz of thousands of people about to watch years of work finally pay off. Midlands State University’s 27th Graduation Ceremony wasn’t just another ceremony. It was a full-blown celebration. His Excellency Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe and Chancellor of state universities, presided over the capping of 7,888 graduates, making it one of the biggest human capital milestones the country has seen this year.

This year’s theme, “Knowledge, Innovation, Enterprise: Building a Self-Sufficient Zimbabwe,” set the tone for everything that followed — from the cultural performances that had the whole arena on its feet, to the research breakthroughs that made it onto the programme. Vice-Chancellor Professor V. N. Muzvidziwa summed it up: “This ceremony is a moment of national significance, a celebration of years of sacrifice, discipline and intellectual labour, and a reaffirmation of Midlands State University’s contribution to the national human capital development that drives Zimbabwe’s development agenda, NDS2, and the aspirations of Vision 2030.”

This graduating class was one for the record books. Of the 7,888 graduates capped, 55% were women and 45% men, with women leading the class across 10 academic faculties. The cohort included 6,631 Honours graduates, 1,027 Master’s graduates, 19 PhD and Doctor of Business Leadership graduates, one MPhil graduate, and four international students, and 39% of graduates completed degrees in critical skills disciplines, most of them in STEM. It was also a milestone for the history books: MSU capped its first-ever graduates in Biomedical Sciences, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Fuels and Energy Engineering.

Among those capped were Colonel Miniyothabo Francisca Baloyi-Chiwenga (Doctor of Business Leadership), founding University Council Chairperson Advocate Canaan Dube (Doctor of Business Leadership), and High Court Judge Justice Gibson Mandaza (Master of Laws in Constitutional and Human Rights Law). MSU also used the moment to show off some serious global bragging rights, as Professor Muzvidziwa presented the University’s Moot Court team to President Mnangagwa after they claimed their second consecutive world title at the 18th Nelson Mandela World Moot Court Competition, held at the UN Headquarters in Geneva.

Two projects stood out as proof that MSU’s research doesn’t stay on paper. The Vice-Chancellor announced that the University’s modified coal tar technology has been used to construct and tar a five-kilometre road connecting the ED Mnangagwa Law School through Amaveni to Kwekwe town. Meanwhile, a modular chlorine water treatment plant at Holy Cross Dam is set to deliver clean, safe water to communities in Chirumhanzu — turning years of lab work into something communities can actually use.

As the newly capped graduates left the arena, they carried more than certificates. Professor Muzvidziwa’s charge to them was simple: hold on to Ubuntu/Unhu, integrity and service, and use them to help build a self-sufficient Zimbabwe. For the thousands of MSU students still working towards their own capping day, 27 August was a preview of what’s coming — and a reminder of exactly why the hard work is worth it.