Poor pay blamed for security lapse
DUT management have acknowledged criminal incidents affecting students, apologising to those affected.
“We sincerely apologise to those in the DUT community who have unfortunately been affected by crime and we offer counselling, support and assistance to all of our students and staff,” said senior director of corporate affairs Alan Khan.
He said the university worked closely with police to fight crime and had invested in improving campus security over the years.
Guards
SRC member Mbuso Sithole said DUT had outsourced security guards working around the clock.
All the gates and most areas of the university had security guards, he said.
“However, we have experienced problems with the (security) company when the security guards went on a strike over salaries.
“The strike was said to be illegal which led to a number of security guards being dismissed. Up to now they have not got their jobs back,” said Sithole.
He speculated that pay gripes had left the security guards demotivated.
“No one wants to work hard and earn very little at the end of the month.”
Sithole claimed that in terms of the contract between DUT and the security company, the guards were responsible for the safety of students both inside and outside the premises of the institution.
“It also came to our attention last year that some of the CCTV cameras are not working and as far as I know that has not been addressed.”
Sithole said the SRC would take up the issue of muggings with the executive management of the university after first doing research on ways to address crime on and off campus.
DUT has three campuses – Steve Biko, Riston and ML Sultan – in close proximity to each other and students often attend classes at the different venues, he said.
This makes them vulnerable to criminals.
No arrests
KwaZulu- Natal SAPS spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala confirmed that Govender had reported his incident, but said that no arrests had been made.
According to Mehnaaz’s mother, Nasarene Khan, she did try to report the incident by calling the emergency number 10111.
However, police allegedly failed to came to her assistance.
“We did not report the incident as the lack of interest from my initial call to 10111 was evident as no one called us back,” she said.