Students on government scholarship in Zimbabwe say they have left the embassy premises in Harare to allow it to reopen, after the government promised to pay a percentage of their tuition fees this week.

Last week, the embassy was forced to close after students stormed it in demand of their tuition and accommodation fees of 1.7 million US dollars.

Some of them camped at the embassy last month, after their respective universities and colleges denied them accommodation and entry to classes in demand for 1.7 million US dollars.

The Council of Ministers then approved 500, 000 US dollars to address the situation.

The Minister of Higher Education, Yien Lam, says transfers of the money will be made before the end of Tuesday.

“We agreed that the money should be transferred either yesterday [Monday] or today [Tuesday] the latest. So we will be working out the way forward after the payment. But this payment will continue for a period of time until we finalize the payment of the arrears,” said Lam.

The representative of the students, Moses Kat, says they have been informed that transactions are being made from Juba to enable the payment of part of the arrears.

“Since the government is promising to do something. We are waiting because they say the transaction is taking place,” said Kat.

He told Eye Radio that the students have allowed officials at the embassy to resume their work.

“As we speak, all the embassy officials have reported back to their normal duties. We are still waiting now for the government actually to fulfill what they have promised,” he added.

The Minister, Yien Lam said he plans to travel to Zimbabwe to meet with the students in order to resolve the matter comprehensively.

“I met the Ambassador of Zimbabwe and we agreed that he will facilitate my visit sometime next week to Zimbabwe so that we resolve this, and I discussed it with my counterpart, the Minister of Higher Education in Zimbabwe,” he said.

There are almost 150 South Sudanese students on government scholarship in Zimbabwe.

Additional report by: Rosemary Wilfred