WATCH | Wits SRC protests against students 'forced to sleep in library'

A video clip of students sleeping in the library at Wits University was shared by the student representative council (SRC) on Wednesday, as it staged a demonstration demanding immediate action.

While the university reiterated that free accommodation excludes students who have failed repeatedly, the SRC tweeted: “When we resort to other measures, we do so because we have exhausted all other forms of engagement. A storm is coming. It cannot be that under our leadership students are subjected to these inhumane conditions. Our students will be accommodated!”

University management accused the SRC of breaching an agreement reached last month, setting out the terms for the readmission of 271 students and their eligibility for financial assistance.

"To date, 800 students have been helped. Another 50 are being helped this morning as more beds from a private service provider have become available," Wits said in a statement. "Despite the Wits SRC having broken this agreement, the dean of students, Jerome Seppie, is still willing to engage in order to resolve any further issues. It is now up to the WitsSRC to show leadership in this regard."

Early on Wednesday, a group of students had gathered at the Empire Road entrance to the campus. Security was present amid reports that students were disrupting bus operations.

Some of the protesters then staged a sleep-in protest inside one of the halls.

At 10am, the students attempted to disrupt classes outside the Parktown education campus and entrance to the faculty of sciences.

At 11.20am, a larger group of students gathered on the west campus of Wits University. Some students who were in class joined the protest.

“It must be made very clear to Wits university and government that we will not rest until all of our students are accommodated,” said Thutho Gabaphete, SRC president.

Cebolenkosi Khumalo told TimesLIVE: “We just want accommodation. How do you expect students to survive Wits University without accommodation?”

Risima Ngobeni said: “This is a matter of urgency. Can they at least open up Wits so that the students can be accommodated?”

Wits university said students who were not receiving funding for their accommodation were those who had a record of poor academic performance.

Commenting on the protest, Wits spokesperson Buhle Zuma told TimesLIVE: “A group of students tried to block the Yale Road entrance this morning, before marching to the Parktown campuses where they were moved from the gates.” Academic activities were proceeding, she said. 

Wits had attempted to help students in need, said Zuma.

“They are protesting for free accommodation. Many of these students have failed multiple times and have thus lost their funding and accommodation for 2020.

“The university has made available R17m via the Wits Hardship Fund to help those students who are passing and who genuinely require temporary accommodation and support. This was done in conjunction with the Wits SRC a few weeks ago.”

The protesters said about 200 students required accommodation and were being forced to sleep in computer laboratories and in the library.

Mthobisi Dlamini, a second-year student, said they slept on the floor or on desks in the computer labs. They were forced to wake up early to freshen up in the university's bathrooms before other students arrived on campus for lectures.

Higher education minister Blade Nzimande on Tuesday addressed student housing demands and violent student protests at the start of the 2020 academic year.

He told parliament that the government was hoping for help from the private sector to resolve the housing issue, even as it rolled out a range of projects.

Through the student housing infrastructure programme, he said, the government was developing large projects comprising 7,273 new beds at a number of universities. In addition, six housing projects were in the pipeline, “where feasibility studies will be undertaken in 2020".

He had also reached agreement with all tertiary institutions to accredit private accommodation where vetted and proven to be suitable for student accommodation.

“It will be necessary in 2020 to establish a forum where private accommodation provision, norms and standards, costs, safety, university accreditation processes and the link with NSFAS funding can be discussed. This may have to be supported by further research and engagement,” said the minister.

“This will be assisted by the R64bn announced by [President Cyril Ramaphosa] in Sona (state of the nation address), with the aim of raising a further R64bn through private sector participation over the next 10 years. This will take us a long way towards addressing student housing needs.”

Nzimande denounced the violence that had marred some student protests this year.

“The beginning of this academic year has been marked by some violent student protests at a number of universities and TVET colleges in the country including, but not  restricted to, the universities of KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Fort Hare, Orbit College and Tshwane South College, and, of late, University of Zululand and Tshwane University of Technology,” he told MPs.

“In all these cases, my department has been working with the institutions to address the specific problems and challenges in these institutions and we are hopeful that sooner rather than later all these should be resolved.

“As a government, however, we strongly condemn incidents of violence in some of these campuses. No matter how legitimate student grievances can be there is no justification for violence and damage to property. Violence and destruction is no longer protest, but counter revolution.”

Nzimande pledged that government and institutions were ready to engage the tertiary community to resolve problems, adding, “we urge all to seek to address problems constructively and peacefully”.