Marathon strike at DUT comes to an end

The marathon staff strike at the embattled Durban University of Technology has been suspended.

Vice-chancellor Professor Thandwa Mthembu announced late on Wednesday that the institution would be fully operational from Thursday.

Lectures are due to resume on Monday.

The lock-out imposed on staff who took part in the seven week industrial action was also suspended at 5pm on Wednesday.

This follows a protracted meeting between deputy minister of higher education and training Buti Manamela with unions and management on Tuesday. Both parties agreed to return to the negotiating table.

Mthethwa appealed to staff and students to work together to make up for a month of lost tuition time.

"Having lost almost 4 weeks of academic work‚ our unwavering focus should be on how best we could make amends for this. We owe this to ourselves [and] the community at large‚" Mthembu said.