'Students should even be able to watch porn' says UKZN student

About 500 University of KwaZulu-Natal students downed pens on Monday in protest against living conditions and security issues at their places of accommodation.

Lectures at the university’s Westville campus were disrupted after protesting students pulled others out of class to voice their dismay over various issues‚ including unreliable wi-fi and expensive meals.

Many claim they have not yet received National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFas) funding‚ in keep with former president Jacob Zuma’s declaration of free tertiary education for deserving students. They also complained about their campus cafeteria being too expensive.

Student representative council head Fulufhelo T’tsi‚ said: “As it stands there are so many students who have not received their funding. Some of them are coming to us for assistance. We are actually contributing from our own pockets so that they can eat. This is not how it is supposed to be. There is money that has been put aside for these first-year students.

“All these first-year students must be given residences‚ because some of them - who are staying in private accommodation - have been chased out by their landlords. They must also be given meal allowances.

T’tsi also claimed that living conditions at some student residences were unacceptable. “We have a crisis here. We have filthy residences‚ they are not adequate for students to learn in. We have been raising this with management.

“Those residences we have got are unacceptable. We want management to engage the landlords about the conditions.”

He said they wanted the university to be closed until the Easter holidays to allow university management to address their issues.

One student‚ who did not want to be named‚ complained about the wi-fi in his residence‚ saying “students should even be able to watch porn over the weekends‚ there shouldn’t be any limitations”.

Dr Rose Laka-Mathebula‚ executive director for student services‚ accepted a memorandum from students‚ which listed their demands and concerns.

Both police and campus security were monitoring the situation.

University spokesman Normah Zondo said some lectures had been disrupted. "Executive management will continue to engage students in an effort to resolve the impasse‚” Zondo added.