Urinating student says expulsion was ‘petty’
STELLENBOSCH University has expelled a student for entering a learning centre without permission and urinating on a couch while sleeping.
Nyasha Mubaiwa, 24, a second-year BA student, has lodged an appeal against the sanction.
According to the charge sheet, he entered the university’s Fharga learning centre at 3am, slept and then urinated on a couch.
He also disturbed other students at 7am and refused to leave after he was requested to do so.
His girlfriend had opted to remain in the centre for the night because, according to a statement she handed to university authorities, there was no shuttle service operating at 3am and it would have been dangerous to walk to her residence.
The centre is reserved for commerce students.
Mubaiwa’s punishment took effect because at the time of the incident he had already been expelled from the university for two years after being found guilty of misconduct in an unrelated case. However, his expulsion was suspended for the duration of his studies on condition he was not found guilty of any other offence.
Some of the previous charges he had faced were taking food and other consumable items from a fellow hostel resident without permission and assaulting a roommate.
Mubaiwa tendered an apology after these charges were levelled against him, saying he was “deeply sorry” to Stellenbosch University and to those who were affected by his conduct.
A deeply disappointed Mubaiwa said this week that his “life was going down the drain because he had entered a library”.
Asked about the urinating incident, he said: “I was sleeping and it just happened. It has happened before but not at university. It’s not as if I intentionally wanted to urinate in the learning centre.”
He believed he had been expelled for a “petty” reason.
University spokesman Martin Viljoen said he was not in a position to comment on the case as Mubaiwa’s legal representatives indicated they were going to lodge an appeal against the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.