Close to 50 students at the troubled Buffalo City College threatened to sleep inside the institution’s premises yesterday after they were evicted from private residences in town due to unpaid rent.
The disgruntled women arrived at the college in the early hours of yesterday morning, carrying bags and suitcases and, by late yesterday, were still on the East London campus.
“It is clear that we are going to sleep here. We have been neglected the whole day. Management sent an official around at 10am to ask us to compile a list of our names.
“We did not hear from management thereafter,” said one of the students, Unathi Calata.
Some of the students evicted from residences come from as far as Ngqamakwe, Alice and Keiskammahoek.
Earlier this month, a student was allegedly raped in Southernwood, where she was squatting with a friend.
She opened a case against the alleged culprit.
Another student, Akhona Breakfast, said she had nowhere to go: “Management has not given us any direction other than requesting our names.”
Breakfast said it was the responsibility of the college to get them accommodation.
“The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is paying our tuition fees and is also supposed to be paying our rent. The college has to make sure that it pays on our behalf, but are not doing it. We do not know who is using our funds and why.”
She said that according to both NSFAS and the college’s guidelines, students who had performed well academically were supposed to receive funding for accommodation.
College principal and chief executive officer Didier Singh said: “The college makes use of college residences for students who qualify and are allocated accommodation allowances”.
Singh said they were not responsible for organising private residences.
“Students who met the requirements as per the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) college bursary guidelines, and subject to the availability of funds, were allocated accommodation in residences.” — msindisif@dispatch.co.za
Evicted students plan to camp on campus
The disgruntled women arrived at the college in the early hours of yesterday morning, carrying bags and suitcases and, by late yesterday, were still on the East London campus.
“It is clear that we are going to sleep here. We have been neglected the whole day. Management sent an official around at 10am to ask us to compile a list of our names.
“We did not hear from management thereafter,” said one of the students, Unathi Calata.
Some of the students evicted from residences come from as far as Ngqamakwe, Alice and Keiskammahoek.
Earlier this month, a student was allegedly raped in Southernwood, where she was squatting with a friend.
She opened a case against the alleged culprit.
Another student, Akhona Breakfast, said she had nowhere to go: “Management has not given us any direction other than requesting our names.”
Breakfast said it was the responsibility of the college to get them accommodation.
“The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is paying our tuition fees and is also supposed to be paying our rent. The college has to make sure that it pays on our behalf, but are not doing it. We do not know who is using our funds and why.”
She said that according to both NSFAS and the college’s guidelines, students who had performed well academically were supposed to receive funding for accommodation.
College principal and chief executive officer Didier Singh said: “The college makes use of college residences for students who qualify and are allocated accommodation allowances”.
Singh said they were not responsible for organising private residences.
“Students who met the requirements as per the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) college bursary guidelines, and subject to the availability of funds, were allocated accommodation in residences.” — msindisif@dispatch.co.za
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