UCT students protest over temporary accommodation and fee blocks

University of Cape Town (UCT) students have joined the fight for accommodation and the cancellation of historic debt.

Students at the university's lower campus embarked on a protest on Thursday, burning objects on the university premises. Their immediate grievance was apparently the eviction of students from temporary residences and fee blocks.

UCT's students' representative council (SRC), accused the university's management of going against an agreement regarding the temporary accommodation and blocking of registrations for students with outstanding debt. 

“Students are facing removal during the rainy and cold Cape Town weather, whereas they were previously placed into residences as per agreement with the UCT executive. 

“UCT executive, through the call of removal of these students, is abandoning students to sleep in an inhumane and unsafe environment in the rain,” the SRC said in a statement. 

It condemned the university's decision to evict students and labelled the move as a war against students. 

“The SRC rejects this dehumanising act of violence on students,” the student body said.

It called on students who are facing removal to approach their office for assistance and also urged organisations, societies and individuals to step in and give donations of food, blankets and toiletries for the stranded. 

Elijah Moholola, speaking on behalf of the university, said the council met on Monday evening to consider the SRC’s proposal to lift fee blocks as a blanket concession but decided it was not possible to do this.   

He said: “UCT’s student fee debt has increased by close to fourfold, with some fee payers making no payment at all. The university’s cumulative historic student debt now stands at more than R385m,  and more than half of this is for 2022 fees. UCT cannot maintain a financially sustainable university under such conditions.” 

He said that UCT had “already lifted the fee block threshold from R1,000 to R10,000 for South African students, which has allowed just over 3,400 students to register.”

He said it is “critical to ensure the ongoing payment of fees timeously, and one of the ways of doing so is through the ‘fee block' policy.  

“These interventions enable UCT to remain financially secure to deliver quality education,” he said, adding that “it remains a critical part of the executive’s fiduciary responsibility to ensure that fee debt does not grow year-on-year and that the university does not ‘lend’ recklessly as a result of fee payments not being made.”   

He said that additional measures had enabled about 4,000 additional students who started out with fee blocks to register for the 2023 academic year.   

“The university is aware of about 1,500 students who are yet to register due to fee blocks. However, some of these are not academically eligible,” he said. 

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