Pretoria - A mass meeting of students at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) brought learning and teaching to a halt, as they addressed issues affecting students performance.
Organised by the SA Student’s Congress (Sasco), the meeting affected operations at departments which work with the certification of the National Student Fund (NSFAS), accommodation and fees.
This after Sasco stepped in, as they said that there have been serious issues that came to their attention, which they tried to escalate through student representative deployees, with no luck.
Issues included the withholding of certificates for NSFAS students, the lack of adequate accommodation and those who owed fees.
They held the meeting to discuss NSFAS and the finance department, as there were students who have been funded by NSFAS who graduated without having received their certificates and academic records.
Sasco called upon the university and graduation office to give all NSFAS-funded students their certificates so that they can be integrated to the workplace.
The other burning student issue was the delay on the finalisation of appeals, which they said was a setback towards the project of academic excellence.
“We therefore demand the immediate finalisation of appeals such that the affected students who will be approved can be able to get study materials, accommodation and all that is necessary to redeem themselves and excel academically.”
On the student accommodation issue, the organisation said “... It was with utter disgust that students are staying at dilapidated residences that have no functioning stoves and showers.
“There has been some ongoing cheap maintenance that is bogus, as a result of this, cheap maintenance pipes are still leaking and stoves are not working.
“We have been pleading with the institution to construct a communal kitchen at building 44 so that our students are able to cook a meal of their choice since cafeterias are no longer subsidised; we demand the process to establish a communal kitchen to commence in not more than a week’s time since our students have been subjected to inhumane malnutrition over some time; and we are vehemently opposed to this anarchy,” Sasco said.
The other issue was TUTEH (a wholly owned company of the university) accredited and leased residences.
“We have noted various concerns from students on the state of residences that have been accredited by the university, that are not meeting the norms and standards in accordance with the accreditation criteria.”
They called upon the university to take drastic measures and re-evaluate residences like Little Manhattan, Majuba, Backley Square, TKC Properties, TVL 1, The former Topez, Campus Edge, City House, Bergsting residence and Union residence.
“We call upon the Vice-Chancellor ( Professor Tinyiko Maluleke) to do due diligence in this regard, though we acknowledge that our university has a deficiency of residences it can never be correct that we are silent when students are voicing concerns over the conditions they are subjected to that are not conducive, albeit them paying ridiculous amounts that even prevent them from getting certificates due to outstanding fees.”
They also called for the library to be open for 24 hours.
“The closing of libraries is a reversal of our gains, precisely because we fought for access to information in our lifetime.
“We call upon the university to speedily resolve the issue of printing machines at i-centres to be fully functional, this is a sabotage to our students who must get their work done and it must be castigated with the contempt it deserves.
“As the South African Student’s Congress TUT, we pledge our utmost solidarity with dental students who are not recognised by the professional body, such that they can be able to be integrated to their profession.
“We have noted with great dismay that the Dean of the Faculty of Science Professor Prince Ngobeni acts as a DVC of TLT without following the necessary procedures which affects the process of amicably resolving the issue.
“We call upon the vice-chancellor together with the SRC to take over and escalate this process to the benefit of the students.”
The organisation said it had noted the exclusion of students from accredited residences barred from using transport to Arcadia while they are billed for transport and said it was unjustifiable that students must pay twice for the same commodity.
“Furthermore we call upon the university to probe the conditions of the Bokamoso buses because we are not convinced that they are in good condition.”
Yesterday, the university said it was examining the list of demands, and would respond soon to the grievances of the students.
Pretoria News