Cape Town - A university political student structure has raised the alarm on the continued accommodation crisis at a Cape Town university.
CPUT PASMA has called on the university to urgently attend to the accommodation shortages that largely affect first-year students.
CPUT PASMA said the first-years who were without accommodation had been met with intimidation.
“They have tried all channels of authority and have not received help. This is an act of desperation. This is an outcry. This is a plea to the university and all people with the means to help these first-years. As peaceful as their approach is, the students were met with violence, curse words, threats of pepper spray, tear gas and arrest by the campus security before they were even able to provide a memorandum,” CPUT PASMA said.
A representative of PASMA CPUT who requested anonymity due to fear of earmarking and intimidation said there were between 80 and 100 first-year students who still had not been given accommodation.
“The university has turned a blind eye to the situation of these first-year students. They sleep outside. They don’t even provide them with a place to shower and freshen up. These students are not from the province, and it is not safe for the girl students,” he said.
Dr Garth van Gensen from CPUT said CPUT had made momentous strides and had over the past years housed 43% of its students in residences. This, he says, exceeds any other South African university.
“For the past three weeks, CPUT management, mostly through the Division of Student Affairs (DSA), has been working closely with the SRC to resolve some challenges that have emerged around the allocation of student accommodation.
“These have largely involved qualifying students (students who have been admitted for study at CPUT during the current academic year) who either did not apply properly for accommodation on the online system, and their applications could thus not be processed on time, or those who did not apply for accommodation for the current academic year,” he said.
Van Gensen said another group consists of students whose accommodation status had been designated as pending, largely because these students had matters that remained unresolved around financial or academic registration.
“Strictly speaking, there is presently no accommodation crisis at CPUT because, as a rule, when university-owned or leased residences are fully allocated, as is the case at present, students who qualify for accommodation are assisted through a process of transferring them to accredited private accommodation.
“It has to be also mentioned that a number of students who do not qualify as they do not meet any of the academic criteria and other requirements have also presented themselves to various facilities of the university demanding to be allocated accommodation. Unfortunately, the university is not in a position to assist these students,” he said.
CPUT is not the only Western Cape university that has been marred with student protests over the past month; UCT and UWC too were engulfed in protests on similar issues.
Mpumelelo Zikalala of Zikalala Attorneys said everyone had the right to protest and demonstrate, but had to follow the correct prescripts outlined by the law.
“The Constitution is very clear under the Gatherings Act, and outlines that a number of things must be done before a demonstration. This ranges from contacting the persons that will be demonstrated against, notifying them of the intent of demonstration, as well as law-enforcement,” he said.
Zikalala said this was to ensure that those who are not part of the demonstrations are not affected.
“Freeways for example are places where demonstrations are not allowed, as they block and prevent motorists and by-passers from travelling. Students often don’t follow the correct procedures and usually proceed with protests without following the processes. Universities are then forced to seek court relief because these demonstrations occur on their property, and are often disruptive and no due process was followed,” he said.
Zikalala urged SRC bodies to ensure processes were followed before demonstrations and protests were done as they may have long-lasting negative effects on them.
“If SRC structures are negligent with these processes, a student may find themselves with a criminal record that may last up to 10 years. In those 10 years, they will not be able to travel abroad or even apply for work,” he said.