RADICAL student organisation Sasco has made a far-reaching proposal to stop violence on campuses – a total ban on booze at all university campuses.
Five students have died this year in the Eastern Cape, most of them violently, and in all instances excessive alcohol consumption was cited as a factor.
The call by the South African Students Congress comes after another Walter Sisulu University student, Anda Mhaga, 28, was killed, allegedly by a fellow student, last weekend at the Nelson Mandela Drive (NMD) campus.
Mhaga is the second student to be killed there in less than five months.
In April Sandiso Mfihlo was stabbed in the neck and died on the scene during an election victory celebration.
Sasco’s provincial chair Buyambo Mantashe called for “harmony, peace and sanity among students” and urged strict measures. “We call upon university authorities to draw lessons from this incident, and tighten security measures and restrict alcohol access in line with the university rules and only permit it as per the rules of the university,” he said.
However Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma) NMD SRC deployee Manyano Nongogo said his party was against such calls.
“The majority of the students are adults and by law are permitted to consume alcohol.
“What is the point of this call? Students will just go and drink outside, come back drunk or be in much greater danger on the outside.”
Nongogo suggested tighter security measures on weapons brought onto campus and also the provision of campus bars which would sell alcohol in cans rather than bottles.
The Daily Dispatch has reported in the past on similar incidents at Walter Sisulu and other local higher education institutions (see sidebar report).
Mantashe said Sasco condemned the killings with “maximum contempt” and stressed the need for universities to implement policies against alcohol on their property.
“There are no bars at these universities, so this means the only way the alcohol enters is through the gates of the institutions.
“ If the security measures were tighter there would be fewer incidents,” Mantashe said.
Sasco viewed the killings as “barbaric behaviour and backward ghetto gangsterism”, he added.
“We believe that on campuses, especially in residences, students should be safe so as to ensure a conducive environment for learning.”
WSU spokesperson Angela Church welcomed the call. “We already have a policy against alcohol consumption on university property; the problem is monitoring the smuggling of it.
“We fully support the call by the student body and appeal for their assistance in monitoring this,” she said.
WSU SRC executive committee chair Misheck Mugabe also urged students to stop treating university property as “taverns”.
“What our fellow students should understand is that, even though they should engage in social activities, they should do so in a regulated manner.
“We support the call by our PEC for students not to treat our institutions as taverns, because that ultimately leads to criminal activity,” he said.
Rhodes University acting director of student affairs Dr Colleen Vassiliou said the university only had alcohol at official events. “The registrar’s permission must be obtained to serve alcohol at any official university event (including all society evenings) other than hall and residence functions, which must be approved by the hall warden,” Vassiliou said.
Liquor Board spokesperson Mgwebi Msiya said though most of the students were allowed by law to consume alcohol, as “we always seek to curb excessive alcohol use”.
No responses to e-mailed questions to Nelson Mandela Metro University and University of Fort Hare regarding the call by Sasco had been received at the time of writing. — siphem@dispatch.co.za
Sasco calls for booze ban
Five students have died this year in the Eastern Cape, most of them violently, and in all instances excessive alcohol consumption was cited as a factor.
The call by the South African Students Congress comes after another Walter Sisulu University student, Anda Mhaga, 28, was killed, allegedly by a fellow student, last weekend at the Nelson Mandela Drive (NMD) campus.
Mhaga is the second student to be killed there in less than five months.
In April Sandiso Mfihlo was stabbed in the neck and died on the scene during an election victory celebration.
Sasco’s provincial chair Buyambo Mantashe called for “harmony, peace and sanity among students” and urged strict measures. “We call upon university authorities to draw lessons from this incident, and tighten security measures and restrict alcohol access in line with the university rules and only permit it as per the rules of the university,” he said.
However Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma) NMD SRC deployee Manyano Nongogo said his party was against such calls.
“The majority of the students are adults and by law are permitted to consume alcohol.
“What is the point of this call? Students will just go and drink outside, come back drunk or be in much greater danger on the outside.”
Nongogo suggested tighter security measures on weapons brought onto campus and also the provision of campus bars which would sell alcohol in cans rather than bottles.
The Daily Dispatch has reported in the past on similar incidents at Walter Sisulu and other local higher education institutions (see sidebar report).
Mantashe said Sasco condemned the killings with “maximum contempt” and stressed the need for universities to implement policies against alcohol on their property.
“There are no bars at these universities, so this means the only way the alcohol enters is through the gates of the institutions.
“ If the security measures were tighter there would be fewer incidents,” Mantashe said.
Sasco viewed the killings as “barbaric behaviour and backward ghetto gangsterism”, he added.
“We believe that on campuses, especially in residences, students should be safe so as to ensure a conducive environment for learning.”
WSU spokesperson Angela Church welcomed the call. “We already have a policy against alcohol consumption on university property; the problem is monitoring the smuggling of it.
“We fully support the call by the student body and appeal for their assistance in monitoring this,” she said.
WSU SRC executive committee chair Misheck Mugabe also urged students to stop treating university property as “taverns”.
“What our fellow students should understand is that, even though they should engage in social activities, they should do so in a regulated manner.
“We support the call by our PEC for students not to treat our institutions as taverns, because that ultimately leads to criminal activity,” he said.
Rhodes University acting director of student affairs Dr Colleen Vassiliou said the university only had alcohol at official events. “The registrar’s permission must be obtained to serve alcohol at any official university event (including all society evenings) other than hall and residence functions, which must be approved by the hall warden,” Vassiliou said.
Liquor Board spokesperson Mgwebi Msiya said though most of the students were allowed by law to consume alcohol, as “we always seek to curb excessive alcohol use”.
No responses to e-mailed questions to Nelson Mandela Metro University and University of Fort Hare regarding the call by Sasco had been received at the time of writing. — siphem@dispatch.co.za
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