Teething maintenance woes at UNESWA
MBABANE – Scruffy buildings, leaking roofs and blocked ablution facilities are some of the poor conditions that undermine the learning environment at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Kwaluseni Campus.
Students, lecturers and general workers living within the varsity compound have decried the state of dilapidation of the institution’s infrastructure, to the point that they feel some parts of the institution deserve to be declared unfit for human occupation.
UNESWA is the pride of Eswatini, in that it is the only institution of higher learning that is being ranked with other similar tertiary institutions continentally and globally.
According to UniRank 2021, UNESWA was ranked 138 out of 200 universities in Africa.
Complaining
For a long time, students on campus have been complaining about toilets which were not in good condition. Sometimes the toilets do not flush and have broken cisterns or leaking pipes that cause flooding on the floors.
On a similar note, students said they were compelled to take cold showers because there was no hot water in some dormitories.
On Friday, Times reporters visited the campus where they saw first-hand the poor condition of the infrastructure. Students said some of the issues they complained about had been reported a few years ago.
Sipho Lukhele, one of the students, said despite students paying rent, the institution had not addressed their personal issues.
Administration
“We don’t have water as we speak and it seems like we will be having the same issue even in this academic year. We appeal to the administration to sort out this problem before we open for the new academic year,” Lukhele said.
The student said for the past two days, there had been scarcity of water within the institution, which presented hygiene challenges to students living on campus. He said students in his dormitory were compelled to fetch water from other dormitories within the institution.
“Despite having no running water, the most frustrating issue is that of always having a cold bath, whether it is summer or winter. We pay our monthly rent, which is why we feel it is not fair that we are neglected.”
One of the female students said due
These are some of the toilets that were found wrapped with plastics bags in the Journalism and Mass Communication Laboratory.
to the cold water in the showers within the M and N Block, where female students resided, they were forced go to the male blocks to take a bath, where hot water was available.
“It is unfortunate that we share showers with males because we are always scrambling for hot water. We are exposed to gender-based violence here,” said the female student.
Another student, Mandla Sikhondze, said people from neighbouring Kwaluseni communities were also using the campus facilities for bathing,
which he said was unfair to the on-campus students.
He alleged that it might be possible that those were the same people who sexually abused female students and were stealing their gadgets and clothes on washing lines.
One of the dormitories has a leaking roof because the roof tiles are worn out. In this S Block, which is one of the largest students’ residential blocks, the roof tiles are falling off.
Along the administration block, from the A.2.1 classes, weeds had coiled on the infrastructure. While in some parts of the institution grass was trimmed, in other sections, it was overgrown and unkempt. This was the case around the Faculty of Humanities offices.
Within the Students Finance Department, a white tent was placed on top of the roof as the building was said to be leaking.
An employee said it was shocking that the bursar’s office was in such a mess. She wondered if the institution was spending money on the right priorities.
In the computer lab, student Gabsile Zikode said students had been struggling to do their assignments because the computers within the school were insufficient. She said even those that were functional had no internet.
Research
“We go to the computer laboratory to do research, but we are made to wait in queues because the computers are few. We have to wait for others to go to class before we can do our own assignments. This inconvenience has been ongoing for quite some time now and is caused by that several computers are not working due to varying reasons,” Zikode said.
She also narrated how students moved furniture from one lecture hall to another as such furniture was inadequate. She said they usually shared a chair or even used their thighs as tables, due to the shortage of desks.
Meanwhile, gaping holes were found along the fence. This has been an enabler of a pathway used by neighbouring communities of Mbikwakhe to access the campus or pass through it.
Fence
The severed fence, students said, could be the main gateway for thieves who helped themselves to their properties.
A year ago, this publication revealed how female students were raped by people after gaining entry into the institution. This later resulted in students boycotting classes to seek justice for their colleagues. The students had to be relocated away from Kwaluseni Campus in an effort to assist them get the necessary help.
On Friday, some university workers were found cutting down some of the trees closer to the Computer Centre, while some were fixing damaged infrastructure at D-Block.