The plight of eThekwini College students
ATHINI Siyongo is studying to become a chef.
However, far removed from the sanitary conditions demanded of her intended career, Siyongo, a third-year hospitality student at eThekwini FET College, lives in a shack at Cato Crest, Durban, an impoverished area near the college, due to a shortage of residences and funds.
“I just want this to end. This is not living, but I have no choice,” she said.
Siyongo, 24, mother of a five-yearold, hails from Port St John’s in the Eastern Cape. For the past three years, she has been sharing a tiny shack with a woman.
Although her tuition is funded through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), she does not receive any other allowances.
There is a foul smell that envelopes the area, stemming from the many piles of deserted rubbish in the settlement.
Siyongo says refuse trucks have not visited for weeks and when they do come, some areas are not accessible and the rubbish there is left to rot until a good Samaritan picks it up. The path to her shack is littered with dirt, faeces and rocks.
Siyongo once fell while walking at night and was on crutches for months. “It was not easy because the toilets are situated far from my house and I struggled every time I needed to use them.”
The community of Cato Crest is allocated five mobile toilets.
Buyani Gama, 21, registered last year at eThekwini College for a diploma in public management.
Coming from eNdwedwe, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Gama squatted in a shack in Mayville near the college.
“I did not think it would last a whole year, but NSFAS never got around to giving us our allowances and I had to move from shack to shack, squatting with my comrades,” he said.
Gama has since taken on an active role in student politics.
“We all know people who go to colleges are poor and all we asking for is a little bit of help from NSFAS,” he said.
Sibonelo Ntozakhe, 26, treasurer at the student representative counicl, identified the lack of residences as a major problem. “Currently, we have one residence that takes in about 200 students, and that is a very small percentage of the college population,” he said.
Ntozakhe, one of the students lucky to live at residence, said the SRC was petitioning the college to buy or commission two more buildings and turn them into student residences.
The college said it was aware of students living in nearby shacks.
A college official, who identified herself only as Sne, said residence spaces were limited. The college selects qualifying students by their average marks and location. The official, who deals with NSFAS applications, said there are 220 spaces available at the college’s only residence for 6000 students.
“We have noted the students’ struggles. That is why this year students who do not get res will be eligible for a transport allowance,” she said.
Sne added that the college was also introducing the NSFAS-funded private accommodation system.
The system, widely used by universities, disburses a fixed amount every month to students who could not get into campus residences.
Sne said the amount would be determined once NSFAS had finished processing applications.
Currently, at the Durban University of Technology, the private accommodation allowance costs R3200 per month.
Siyongo said she dreams of being a professional chef one day.
“I just want to cook and support my child,” she said.