Barricades at TUT campus

PROTEST: POOR FOOD, LACK OF ACCOMMODATION

‘Students sleeping in toilets, squatting almost of top of each other.’

Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) students shut down the main campus and barricaded the entrance to the Pretoria West campus yesterday, protesting against food that they claim gives them diarrhoea, residence exclusion, limited library hours and lack of Wi-Fi.

South African Student Congress (Sasco) members said firstyear students were sleeping in toilets and squatting almost on top of each other in residences, while other residences were falling apart.

Sasco secretary-general Gift Mashinini said they were willing to take up arms and fight for African students. “We won’t allow racism. There is now even an incident where a student has been called the k-word.

“We are committed to organising students to work towards the transformation of higher education and training. African children have, for the past three years, been excluded, first financially after the exclusion of NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) coupled with residence exclusion, which then leads to academic exclusion in the following year,” he said.

Mashinini added the university management was in the money-making industry.

The students are also complaining of diarrhoea due to “bad” food sold in the cafeteria, adding that prices increased by R5, Mashinini said.

He added that the transport services to and from campuses were always slow and late, and that students missed tests and classes. “The situation at the Soshanguve bus terminal is worse.”

Sasco also demanded Wi-Fi throughout the entire campus; that the library operate 24 hours a day; an investigation to expose and isolate racism; the writing of the name and surname on exam papers be scrapped due to victimisation; the main administration building on the campus be named after an anti-apartheid activist such as Oliver Tambo; all other buildings be renamed after revolutionary figures; and no students should be denied access based on financial need.

They also demand that the university build new structures to house students and the university roll out a maintenance programme to all residences. They gave the university until Monday to meet their demands.

TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter said activities at the campus would resume today. The campus was closed yesterday morning. Management has agreed to discuss these issues with the SRC. –

Picture: Alaister Russell ON THE MOVE. Students march through campus yesterday following a night of protests at the Tshwane University of Technology main campus in Pretoria. Students blocked roads overnight to highlight the lack of residences for students who use the National...