UFH students invade former residence

University of Fort Hare students that were camping outside the East London campus this evening have invaded Union Arcade, the privately-owned residence they occupied last year.

More than 200 students, mostly from the education faculty waited for many hours after registering, to be allocated accommodation.

East London campus premier Kwanele Ntantala said when the sun set and students realised they had nowhere to go, they decided to go to Union Arcade.

“We waited with students hoping the management would provide alternative accommodation, but it was not to be. Out of panic and frustration, students resorted to going to Union Arcade. We are against allocating students to Union Arcade because it does not meet requirements to accommodate students,” he said.

He said some of the issues they had were that the building was not partitioned properly and the only kitchen in the building was downstairs.

“Students from all the other floors have to go up and down to cook,” he said.

“Students are tired of being moved up and down. Today they are temporarily accommodated in one residence, the following day they are taken to another one, it was a very frustrating exercise.

The other challenge we faced was that, although we were not satisfied with the building, some students preferred it because it is in town, closer to the campus and it has wi-fi. Because of those advantages, students disregarded other issues with the building,” he said.

Ntantala said the SRC would meet with the university management on Monday to discuss a way forward.