WSU students without electricity for two weeks at EL residence

Dozens of Water Sisulu University students staying at a privately-owned residence in Southernwood, East London, say they have been without electricity for the past two weeks.

They are now lying on their mattresses outside the building as a form of protest.

The students say they went to the university to look for alternative accommodation for them.

A student who wanted to remain anonymous, for fear of victimisation, said they had been unable to cook.

“It has been very tough. It doesn’t make sense why the landlord expects us to survive,” he said.

The owner of the building, Malibongwe Mthuzula, said there was no electricity at the residence because of non-payments from the university. “I have run out of funds. I haven’t been paid since January. I don’t have money,” he said.

He said the university could not even tell him when they would pay him. “I can’t keep on borrowing money from people."

He said he had given the students until 3.30pm to vacate his building. “I cannot keep them there with the violent behaviour they are showing. I cannot be in a situation like this."

University spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said the university payment to the landlord was  delayed due to the backlog in processing because of the strike action. "The Buffalo City campus was shutdown and both staff and students were requested not to access the campus due to the violent nature of the protest,” she said.

Tukwayo said campus closures due to protests do have a knock-on effect on all operations of the University.

“Even when the campus reopened, there was a major cleanup operation that took place because of the damage caused by the protesting students,” she said.