Students struggling to find a place to sleep at varsity
TUT building invaded for lodging
Finding a place to sleep every night is a constant distraction for Nick Mhayise, 22, a firstyear student at the Tshwane University of Technology, Soshanguve north campus.
For Mhayise and at least 100 other students at the campus, finding a suitable place to study and a meal every night is proving to be an unending struggle.
Since arriving from his home in eDumbe, KwaZulu-Natal, he has spent nights at the university’s auditorium, gym toilets and also at the stadium.
Mhayise is studying a Bachelor of Education and hopes to teach maths and science.
He is the pride of his family as he is the first person to go to university.
“This is depressing because this is not what I envisaged university life to be like. For the first two weeks I have been sleeping at the auditorium. I would sneak in at about 10pm and leave at 6am after taking a bath in one of the toilets.
“When security kicked me out, I then slept at the gym but that was not for long. I haven’t had proper sleep for days as you have to sleep with one eye open here. It’s basically the survival of the toughest. If this is the price I have to pay for my education then I don’t have a problem,” Mhayise said.
He cannot afford to pay R600 rent for a room in the township as his family depends on his grandmother’s pension grant.
“When I received the acceptance letter from TUT, my grandmother was over the moon. She gave me her last money for transport and to buy a few essentials,” he said.
Sharren Mhlari, 21, from Tzaneen in Limpopo, said she hoped that now she could enrol at university for free, things would only get better.
Mhlari, an information technology student, has been squatting with friends since she arrived last month.
Last Sunday, she slept at the stadium on campus where students queued up to register and apply for accommodation.
“I was excited that I would finally sleep in my own bed without sharing and take a nice warm shower in the mornings before going to class.
“… my mother is a hawker
funded by the National Student Funding Aid Scheme (Nsfas), many struggle to find a place to live because there are no private properties in the area who meet the criteria to house them. University spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said there were 16 000 registered students at the Soshanguve campus this year. “The residence accommo- and did everything to put food on the table for me and my four siblings. I believe that it is only education that will take us out of poverty.”
At TUT’s south campus, broken windows are the hallmark of the few student residences.
An unused administration building has been invaded by desperate students with mattresses lined up on the floor.
Here students don’t pay rent and also get free electricity.
Two blocks away there are about five rooms where up to six students share and pay R700 each. The floors are bare and there is no ceiling.
Student Representative Council deputy president Kevin Phehla said finding accommodation was always a struggle. “There is an abandoned residence built in 2013 and we don’t understand what is causing the delay. There are also some blocks of residences which were supposed to be renovated during December.”
dation available there is for 4 500 . If there are open spaces left they will be filled with applicants on the waiting list. However, it is not expected that there will be many spaces available. So, in essence, the TUT residences are full.” Ruyter said TUT has started accrediting suitable private student accommodation.