Pitcher students’ march over meal allowances
MBABANE – William Pitcher College students have petitioned the Ministry of Labour and Social Security over meal allowances, which they have not received for the past three months.
Through the petition, the students noted that on-campus learners were living in a debt crisis, which was accumulating daily.
They stated that they had realised that the ministry was prioritising other institutions, while the William Pitcher College was among the low priority institutions.
The students further noted that they had learnt that the ministry was planning to pay part of the meal allowance via the college account, something which they did not agree with as it was time consuming.
They further stated that on-campus students were starving and were likely to suffer from sickness due to malnutrition. “We have a number of students who are struggling to survive in their hostels due to shortage of food,” reads the petition in part.
Classes
They said the very same students were required to attend classes every day to make it to the next level in their studies.
In an interview with the Student Representative Council (SRC) Deputy Secretary General (SG) Sambulo Dlamini, he said students had not received their meal allowance since April.
Dlamini said students were demanding their allowances to be deposited directly into their accounts.
According to Dlamini, their bone of contention was that government wanted to allocate them E1 880 from April to July and deposit the rest into the college’s account.
Initially, he said government was supposed to give them E4 700.
He said the ministry told them they would pay part of the funds into the college’s account, adding that they were against that as students were responsible for their own debts and would own up to them by paying the college.
Representative
The student’s representative said they wanted the money for on-campus students to be deposited directly into their accounts.
According to Dlamini, the ministry was informed that allowances should be directly deposited into the students’ accounts but that was not happening. Instead, he said the ministry told them they would deposit part of the funds into the college’s account.
Dlamini said before, the arrangement was that the ministry paid meal allowances through the college but because there dining hall (DH) was no longer functioning as of March 30, the funds needed to be paid directly to the learners.
Meanwhile, students assured the ministry that they would be not returning to class until their demands were met. The college was closed last week following a class boycott and riots by the students resulting in damage of property.
Receiving the petition was the Principal
Human Resource, in the ministry, Ncobile Dlamini, who stated that the Acting Principal Secretary Anthony Masilela was held up, due to other commitments and could not attend to the students.
Dlamini apologised on behalf of the PS and stated that she had been requested to receive the petition, which she would forward to the relevant authorities, adding that she had no response to the demands.