WSU dismisses DA reports of chaos, assault

While the South African Union of Students (SAUS) on Monday stood firm on their call to shut down universities throughout the country, the DA blamed higher education and training minister Naledi Pandor for what they have labelled an inability of Walter Sisulu University (WSU) to register its students.

DA spokesperson for students Yussuf Cassim said during an oversight visit to WSU’s Ibika campus in Butterworth on Monday the registration process was in “shambles”.

Speaking to the Dispatch on Monday, SAUS spokesperson Thabo Shingange said the union had not decided on the day of the shutdown.

In the Eastern Cape, he said WSU, Nelson Mandela University and Rhodes were still “consulting” to see if students would join.

According Cassim, on the day that lectures were scheduled to start, scores of students were still in long queues to get registered. Lectures commenced for some courses but not all.

“The blame for the inability of the Walter Sisulu University to run a successful registration campaign at its Ibika campus must be placed on Naledi Pandor,” said Cassim.

He added that “apparently” students had been assaulted by armed security guards while standing in queues.

“Many of them have to sleep in churches or halls as no rooms in local residences have been allocated,” he said.

He said he met with the head of student affairs and according to him, the reason for the shambolic registration process was a lack of sufficient infrastructure.

However, WSU spokeswoman, Yonela Tukwayo said of Cassim’s comments: “It’s election year.

“We expect opposition parties to make such statements and allegations.”

Tukwayo said the university recently introduced an online registration process, so there was no need for students to stand in long queues.

She confirmed registration processes was continuing for courses that still had space and lectures had not started for those courses.

Tukwayo said they had not received any reports of students being assaulted by security guards.

“We would like to challenge the DA to tell those students to come forward because such cases have not been brought to the university’s attention,” said Tukwayo.

The university’s historical student debt currently sits at more than R1bn.

“All the money tied up in unpaid student debt makes it difficult to function as university,” said Tukwayo.