The start of the 2018 academic year at the University of Fort Hare East London campus was delayed by three weeks as students boycotted classes over a lack of accommodation.
Order was eventually restored when management and students reached an agreement that lectures resume while the accommodation shortage was being addressed.
UFH does not have its own residences in East London. Students live in privately-owned residences that are procured by the institution.
Its Alice campus does have accommodation, but it is not enough. Students who have not been accommodated either squat or stay at the nearby Kwantselamanzi village in Alice.
BSc Agriculture student Songezo Nojulumba is one of many students living in a village. He said they sometimes used taxis, but mostly had to walk a very dangerous route.
The village is a 20- to 30- minute walk from campus. “We are not safe. We are often targets of the criminals who rob us of our belongings,” he said.
UFH spokesman Khotso Moabi said the issue of accommodation was a national one.
“There is a national crisis on student accommodation. We try by all means to make more available, but this is budget contingent and we do this in protection of our students from unscrupulous landlords who take advantage of desperate students,” he said.
Moabi said the university was in the process of identifying facilities that could be accredited by National Student Financial Aid Scheme and meet the standard of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
Student Representative Council premier at the East London campus, Kwanele Ntantala, said it had become a burden for them to find accommodation for students.
“The university enrolls more students than it can accommodate,” he said. “In our case, we foresaw the crisis of accommodation last year and approached the management to procure more accommodation, but that did not happen.”
Premier of the UFH’s Alice campus, Lwandile Mgedezi, conceded there was a severe shortage of student accommodation.
Mgedezi said the campus had just more than 9000 registered students, “but it is only 4800 who have accommodation, the rest squat, while others live off campus”.
Ft Hare youth add their voices to the protest
Order was eventually restored when management and students reached an agreement that lectures resume while the accommodation shortage was being addressed.
UFH does not have its own residences in East London. Students live in privately-owned residences that are procured by the institution.
Its Alice campus does have accommodation, but it is not enough. Students who have not been accommodated either squat or stay at the nearby Kwantselamanzi village in Alice.
BSc Agriculture student Songezo Nojulumba is one of many students living in a village. He said they sometimes used taxis, but mostly had to walk a very dangerous route.
The village is a 20- to 30- minute walk from campus. “We are not safe. We are often targets of the criminals who rob us of our belongings,” he said.
UFH spokesman Khotso Moabi said the issue of accommodation was a national one.
“There is a national crisis on student accommodation. We try by all means to make more available, but this is budget contingent and we do this in protection of our students from unscrupulous landlords who take advantage of desperate students,” he said.
Moabi said the university was in the process of identifying facilities that could be accredited by National Student Financial Aid Scheme and meet the standard of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
Student Representative Council premier at the East London campus, Kwanele Ntantala, said it had become a burden for them to find accommodation for students.
“The university enrolls more students than it can accommodate,” he said. “In our case, we foresaw the crisis of accommodation last year and approached the management to procure more accommodation, but that did not happen.”
Premier of the UFH’s Alice campus, Lwandile Mgedezi, conceded there was a severe shortage of student accommodation.
Mgedezi said the campus had just more than 9000 registered students, “but it is only 4800 who have accommodation, the rest squat, while others live off campus”.
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