1.
SV & CU Floats in procession
0.10

2.
CU Pipers
0.18

3.
CU Float
0.22

4.
CU Africans watching
0.26

5.
CU Float
0.32

6.
CU Small boy watching
0.35

7.
MV African being wheeled along on bed
0.40

8.
CU African children in crowd
0.43

9.
MCU Girls march past
0.46

10.
CU African driving horse & cart as crowd watches
0.58

11.
CU Float carrying Africans
1.05

12.
SV PAN Floats pass camera
1.15



Initials ESP/0229 ESP/0248



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Despite the multiracial charter of the University of Rhodesia, recent unrest resulted in a partial boycott of the annual Rag Parade by African students on Saturday (April 14).

A few days ago the president of the Student's Representative Council at the University said he would not stand for election as an officer in balloting to be held later this month because "I am so labelled that I could not work effectively."
The meeting at which he made that statement was boycotted by most African students.

The retiring president of the SRC, Tony Owen, has been the centre of controversy between various student political factions over his stand on University housing. He has called for an all-black residence hall, an all-white hall and a mixed hall. The black student unrest has reverberated in a variety of ways, most recently the rag parade. There were a number of black students participating but nowhere near the numbers that were expected.

The Rag Parade itself was a colourful event with the Rag procession stretching some 800 yards (metres) and featuring 28 floats. The theme was officially Fantasia. Floats depicted folk tales, nursery rhymes and Disney characters. There were also two pipe bands, a fire breathing dragon, and active volcano and a host of drum majorities.