Student leaders at the University of Fort Hare say they’re disappointed at management’s decision to shut down the institution’s campuses.
The Student Representative Council (SRC) says it learnt of the planned closure via a letter that was circulated on social media on Wednesday night.
Ladies and gentlemen. The University of Fort Hare is basically closed. We are all coming home.#ufhshutdown#GoHome@ufh1916 https://t.co/4rrcpPe7vi pic.twitter.com/Gabj9UPcvg
— Hristo 27 (@_hristo27) March 4, 2020
There have been no lectures at Fort Hare for the past two weeks due to student protests over history debt.
SRC member Mihla Hanise says they are seeking legal advice.
“There is no attachment of a court order that has been granted to the university, maybe it will still come. So during the course of the day, the SRC will continue and seek legal opinion with regard to the matter. Obviously legal steps were not followed by the institution.”
In the video below, protest by students from the University of Fort Hare in Alice spiraled out of control:
Student protests at TUT
Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) students are refusing to return to class, despite pleas to do so from management.
Accommodation, alleged corruption at the university and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) are some of the students’ gripes.
Over the weekend, management announced that an agreement has been reached with student bodies over the issues raised.
However, students at the Ga-Rankuwa and Pretoria West campuses say they are not part of that deal.
They say they want management to speed up the issue of student accommodation, National Student Financial Aid Scheme payments and to do away with academic exclusion.
The ongoing student protest has resulted in the suspension of academic activities at all TUT campuses since last week Tuesday.
In the video below, student leaders say classes won’t resume until their grievances are addressed:
Protests continue in the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN):
Meanwhile, the University of KwaZulu-Natal is also grappling with violent student protests, which erupted at the beginning of the academic year, mainly over financial exclusions.
The UKZN says it can’t give in to student demands to write off historical debt.
The student leadership of UKZN says there is nothing to be gained from the on-going conflict between them and the university management.
The university’s Student Representative Council (SRC) has told Parliament that mistrust between students and university authorities is at the centre of the problem.
In the video below, UKZN SRC President Sifiso Simelane says academic programmes should be restored:
