More than 300 University of Fort Hare students in East London embarked on a stay-away due to lack of student residence accommodation yesterday.The student representative council (SRC) yesterday even threatened to disrupt the university’s R30-million centenary celebrations if students were not accommodated soon.
Campus secretary Somila Sphondo said: “We must be taken seriously as students, as much as management is taking the centenary of the institution seriously.”
Sphondo continued: “To be honest we are able to hijack this institution and say we are not attending the centenary. It will be a serious shame if the centenary fails on the basis of the arrogance we are treated with by management.”
UFH East London SRC premier Malakiwe Mbambo said there were currently 436 registered students without accommodation.
These included new, senior and post-graduate students.
“We have held several meetings with university management. We could not reach consensus.”
He said a mass meeting of students was held last Friday where it was decided the campus needed to be shut down for them to vent their frustration while submitting a memorandum of demands to vice-chancellor Dr Mvuyo Tom.
Mbambo admitted all available accommodation offered by the university was full. “We are requesting management for an additional building.
“We have already completed the task of locating some vacant buildings which can be used to house students in Quigney.
“The university says it will take up to three months to finalise the process of acquiring new accommodation but they cannot tell students to wait for three months in order for them to be accommodated because in May it will be late,” Mbambo said.
He said some students were squatting with fellow-students while others were living with their relatives.
“We can’t at this time have students without a place to sleep and yet they are expected to perform well academically,” said Mbambo. “There will be no classes until we get the response from the vice-chancellor.”
Tom was expected to make an announcement on the demands raised in the memorandum.
No response to questions sent to UFH had been received at the time of writing. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
University of Fort Hare SRC threatens to disrupt centenary celebrations
The student representative council (SRC) yesterday even threatened to disrupt the university’s R30-million centenary celebrations if students were not accommodated soon.
Campus secretary Somila Sphondo said: “We must be taken seriously as students, as much as management is taking the centenary of the institution seriously.”
Sphondo continued: “To be honest we are able to hijack this institution and say we are not attending the centenary. It will be a serious shame if the centenary fails on the basis of the arrogance we are treated with by management.”
UFH East London SRC premier Malakiwe Mbambo said there were currently 436 registered students without accommodation.
These included new, senior and post-graduate students.
“We have held several meetings with university management. We could not reach consensus.”
He said a mass meeting of students was held last Friday where it was decided the campus needed to be shut down for them to vent their frustration while submitting a memorandum of demands to vice-chancellor Dr Mvuyo Tom.
Mbambo admitted all available accommodation offered by the university was full. “We are requesting management for an additional building.
“We have already completed the task of locating some vacant buildings which can be used to house students in Quigney.
“The university says it will take up to three months to finalise the process of acquiring new accommodation but they cannot tell students to wait for three months in order for them to be accommodated because in May it will be late,” Mbambo said.
He said some students were squatting with fellow-students while others were living with their relatives.
“We can’t at this time have students without a place to sleep and yet they are expected to perform well academically,” said Mbambo. “There will be no classes until we get the response from the vice-chancellor.”
Tom was expected to make an announcement on the demands raised in the memorandum.
No response to questions sent to UFH had been received at the time of writing. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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