Rhodes University classes resume as Makhanda water situation improves

Rhodes University in Makhanda will resume its academic programme on Monday after a prolonged municipal water outage, which posed a risk to student and staff health and hygiene, saw most of its classes suspended on Friday.

September 02, 2024 at 6:56 am

Rhodes University staff and students march along High Street in Makhanda to the municipal offices on August 30. A week-long water outage forced the university to halt lectures. Schools, courts, the army base, hospital and tens of thousand of residents had no water in their taps for seven days or longer. Workers embarked on undeclared industrial action after the municipality’s failure to pay their July overtime. (STEVEN LANG)

Rhodes University in Makhanda will resume its academic programme on Monday after a prolonged municipal water outage, which posed a risk to student and staff health and hygiene, saw most of classes suspended on Friday.

This is despite parts of the institution’s campuses and residents still not receiving full water supply.

After intense protests in the small town on Friday, the Makana municipality on Saturday issued a statement apologising to the university and said about 98% of the institution's system was recharged and receiving water.

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