Ft Hare bid to make up lost time

Fort Hare University management will meet behind closed doors today to find a solution to make up for exam time lost after disruptions earlier this week.

This after a meeting with the student representative council (SRC) set a Monday, July 23 deadline for classes to resume.

The Daily Dispatch reported on how National, Education, Health and Allied Worker’s Union (Nehawu) members disrupted exams at both the Alice and East London campuses on Tuesday, while students on the Bhisho campus were able to write their exams.

Several papers were due to be written that day for courses within the education, economics and accounting faculties.

The drama saw protesting workers blaring loud music from their cars and singing. The university now has to decide whether to set new papers for everyone or give credit to those who had written exams.

Fort Hare University's interim vice-chancellor Professor John Hendricks said they had met with the SRC yesterday, “with a view to finding a way to deal with the deferred exams and the commencement of the academic programme”.

He said it was agreed that university management, along with Nehawu, would have to resolve the wage dispute “by no later than Friday (today)”.

Management must also ensure “all necessary measures are put in place for classes to resume on Monday as scheduled”, said Hendricks.

This is the sixth week since Nehawu and the National Tertiary Education Union downed tools on campus, demanding an 8% wage increase.

The university is offering 7.5%, along with other benefits. The dispute saw workers disrupting classes, resulting in the university resolving to suspend operations two weeks ago.

Hendricks said the SRC had undertaken to do whatever it took to ensure that once classes resumed, “the second semester academic programme [will] continue without any disturbance”.

Management will ensure all necessary measures are put in place for classes to resume