Fort Hare students to approach HRC for resolution to strike

Students at University of Fort Hare’s Alice campus have taken a resolution to approach the Human Rights Commission in a desperate attempt to  the ongoing strike by workers of the university.

The wage increase strike which is now in its eighth week has seen mid-year examinations being disrupted.

Students at the university’s Alice campus held a mass meeting Wednesday morning and among the resolutions was to bring the matter to the attention of the Human Rights Commission.

Speaking during the meeting, campus premier Life Mabaso said they had find themselves in a very sad situation.

“Our careers and future are at stake. We have a constitutional right to education and workers have a right to strike, but it is not fair that the right of workers to strike start to infringe upon our rights,” he said.

One of the students who spoke during the mass meeting suggested that the SRC bring the matter to the attention of the Human Rights Commission, an idea that Mabaso said they would follow.

He said they wanted things to return to normal.

Another student told the SRC to tell university vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu that they write and finish the exams.

Mabaso added they would make sure that they resume with the exams next week.

Amanda Dyani, 21, from Willowvale is a third-year student at the Alice campus. She is among thousands of the students who have been negatively affected by the strike.

The BSC in Geology and Geological Information Systems student’s  future hangs in the balance. She says it remains unclear if her plans of applying to  do her honours next year will materialise.

She needs her academic records to apply for sponsorship.

“I cannot apply without my results and people who are supposed to process my results are on strike,” she said.

Dyani said, because of the strike, she has not received her food and book allowance for two months. “It is very difficult to survive. I am depending on friends for food,” she said.