Campuses calm, but empty

No one sure when classes will reopen

It is still unclear when academic activities will resume at two Eastern Cape institutions of higher learning.

There is currently no learning and teaching taking place at Walter Sisulu University’s Ibika campus in Butterworth and at Lovedale TVET College in King William’s Town.

At WSU, the campus was closed on Monday following a protest that turned violent, while striking staff at Lovedale College have been blamed for the ongoing closure.

Students are now afraid of losing their NSFAS funding as they are not attending classes. Funding for college students is based on academic performance and class attendance.

Lovedale student representative council president Asemahle Zikhali said students find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

“When NSFAS considers applications for funding, they will not take it into consideration that the reason we did not meet the criteria was because our lecturers are on strike,” he said.

The strike started in October.

Staff are demanding a restructuring of the organogram of the college and that salary discrepancies are addressed.

Zikhali said hundreds of students were worried that the strike might have affected their final examinations last year. They then approached the ANC provincial office to intervene.

“Luckily they [ANC office] managed to invite the department of higher education & training director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde. That is how we managed to sit for exam- inations,” he said.

However in January, the staff started striking again.

Zikhali said the SRC had to negotiate with them to register students so that they would be able to apply for NSFAS.

“We had to humble ourselves and beg them to register us, and they did,” he said.

On Tuesday last week, hundreds of college students marched to the office of the premier seeking his intervention in the issues.

“He was not there, but we received a response from his office that the issues would be better handled by the office of the minister [of education].”

Zikhali said the strike had affected some students badly as they could not write their supplementary examinations.

“We are desperate now. We have run out of options. The only thing we want is that students return to class,” he said.

Academic activities are still on hold at Walter Sisulu University’s Ibika campus after it was closed on Monday followed a violent protest over living conditions among other demands.

Students at the Butterworthbased campus want the management to address their issues and grievances.

SRC president Lihle Klaas said they had a scheduled meeting with the management.

It was expected to take place in Butterworth at 11am on Wednesday.

University spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said they would continue to engage with the SRC to resolve as many of their issues as possible.

“Where we cannot meet their demands, we will engage in possible alternatives,” she said.

She said R1bn in outstanding student fees had a negative impact on the university’s ability to provide proper maintenance and adequate provisions of services on campus.

“If past and present students repaid their debt, we would be able to channel that money into renovations and maintenance of all our university-owned residences as well as address other critical areas that require money,” she said.

However, there were no reported violent or protest incidents at the Buffalo City Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) College on Tuesday as some students attended classes following the chaos that erupted on campus on Monday.

Student leaders told the Daily Dispatch that although it was all systems go for learning, there was poor attendance from the students as many were left confused about the way forward.

The students boycotted classes for the past two weeks in protest over the non-distribution of NSFAS allowances to some students and over the state of their residences.

Specialist engineers visited the college hostel in Belgravia on Tuesday to check the grievances lodged by the students.

On the money front, the NSFAS money is being deposited on a daily basis, in batches and students are getting their cash allowances.

We had to humble ourselves and beg them to register us Asemahle Zikhali

Lovedale student representative council president