Walter Sisulu University residences are hell‚ say students

Men and women students share showers in overcrowded cockroach-infested residences with broken windows‚ doors and beds as well as inadequate sanitation.

This is what students in Mthatha’s Zamukulungisa residences at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) said they experience daily.

The university admitted to a backlog in maintenance but said students do not share showers because the residences are not co-ed.

This week students complained about the unhygienic and crowded living conditions‚ where up to six students share a single room.

They said up to 20 students use a single toilet. When the Daily Dispatch visited the residence this week‚ there was no hot water and students were using wash basins to bathe because some showers were not working. And the corridors were dark because the lights were not working.

Students said they were not getting value for their money. Each student – whether staying in a single or double room – pays R17 000 a year.

The university’s spokeswoman‚ Yonela Tukwayo‚ acknowledged there were problems in residences‚ but dismissed claims that men and women students were sharing showers‚ because the residences were not co-ed.

Earlier this year‚ students embarked on a class boycott in a desperate plea for better living conditions. The Daily Dispatch reported that the university management had promised to fix residences. But‚ six months later‚ the conditions remain the same.

The students said their protests had landed on deaf ears. Instead‚ they were labelled unruly troublemakers.

SRC president Fezile November said there was a dire need to revamp the whole site.

“The condition of the residence is totally unacceptable and is not conducive for learning‚” he said.

“There is a residence called O where male and female students are sharing showers. If a male student is taking a shower a female student can see and vice versa. That is just wrong‚” he said.

Tukwayo admitted the university had a shortage of student accommodation‚ which had led to illegal squatting in residences.

“We do have strict rules against squatting because this has an adverse effect on infrastructure and municipal costs that the university incurs. When we do find cases of squatting we deal with those students‚” she said.

Specifically asked about male and female students sharing showers‚ Tukwayo said the only reason that could be happening would be if students were illegally squatting.

“It is not true that male and female students share showers. They do not even share residences. It is impossible that they would share showers‚” she said.

Tukwayo said the university managed “to do basic maintenance‚ but we acknowledge that we have a maintenance backlog”.

November said conditions in lecture halls were also inadequate.

“There is a dire shortage of furniture inside lecture halls and some have broken windows. Our conditions here are just unacceptable‚” he said.