Millions of rands worth of damage was caused when a building at the University of Fort Hare’s Alice campus was set on fire by rioting students.
The Equicent infrastructure development building inside the campus was completely destroyed, along with equipment, electric appliances and tools.
Among items destroyed were about 20 flat screen television sets meant to be distributed to some of the student residences.
Washing machines, computers, microwaves, stoves, beds, mattresses, cupboards and maintenance tools were also destroyed in the protest, which was ironically over safety concerns at the campus.
Equicent has been contracted by the university to build its R400-million, 200-bed student village.
The company is also responsible for refurbishing and maintenance of the existing student residences and other university buildings.
Maintenance manager Charles Nkomo at Equicent Development Eastern Cape said the fire started at about 11pm on Wednesday.
He said they saw a group of students singing and throwing stones at the building before setting it alight.
“That group started the fire, but we managed to put it after they ran away. However, after an hour or so, they were back again and re-started the fire which then got so big it was uncontrollable,” said Nkomo.
He called the police and firefighters at about 12.30am yesterday but said the “firefighters only arrived just before 4am, while the entire building had already collapsed and was gutted to the ground”.
“We lost everything, all the computers, a computer server room, also our camera room and boardroom with expensive furniture.
“We also had our sub-contractors using our offices and all their tools are lost, including those belonging to our electricians and a biometrics company,” Nkomo said.
Alice police yesterday said there had been no arrests yet.
The protest is apparently not related to the #FeesMustFall campaign, as Fort Hare students have boycotted classes for more than two weeks over security concerns at the Alice campus.
SRC secretary Ricardo Smith said about 48 pupils had had valuable items such as laptops stolen at the institution recently.
He said master keys to some rooms were found, prompting students to suspect an inside job. They then decided to boycott classes until security was beefed-up.
He said students wanted Equicent removed as “the person caught with a master key was their former employee”, adding they were not aware who started the fire. — asandan@ dispatch.co.za
Students destroy centre
The Equicent infrastructure development building inside the campus was completely destroyed, along with equipment, electric appliances and tools.
Among items destroyed were about 20 flat screen television sets meant to be distributed to some of the student residences.
Washing machines, computers, microwaves, stoves, beds, mattresses, cupboards and maintenance tools were also destroyed in the protest, which was ironically over safety concerns at the campus.
Equicent has been contracted by the university to build its R400-million, 200-bed student village.
The company is also responsible for refurbishing and maintenance of the existing student residences and other university buildings.
Maintenance manager Charles Nkomo at Equicent Development Eastern Cape said the fire started at about 11pm on Wednesday.
He said they saw a group of students singing and throwing stones at the building before setting it alight.
“That group started the fire, but we managed to put it after they ran away. However, after an hour or so, they were back again and re-started the fire which then got so big it was uncontrollable,” said Nkomo.
He called the police and firefighters at about 12.30am yesterday but said the “firefighters only arrived just before 4am, while the entire building had already collapsed and was gutted to the ground”.
“We lost everything, all the computers, a computer server room, also our camera room and boardroom with expensive furniture.
“We also had our sub-contractors using our offices and all their tools are lost, including those belonging to our electricians and a biometrics company,” Nkomo said.
Alice police yesterday said there had been no arrests yet.
The protest is apparently not related to the #FeesMustFall campaign, as Fort Hare students have boycotted classes for more than two weeks over security concerns at the Alice campus.
SRC secretary Ricardo Smith said about 48 pupils had had valuable items such as laptops stolen at the institution recently.
He said master keys to some rooms were found, prompting students to suspect an inside job. They then decided to boycott classes until security was beefed-up.
He said students wanted Equicent removed as “the person caught with a master key was their former employee”, adding they were not aware who started the fire. — asandan@ dispatch.co.za
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