Police outside King Hintsa TVET College during the eviction of students on Friday. Photo supplied
13 September 2016
When student leaders at the Teko campus of the King Hintsa Technical Vocational Education and Training College in Centane, outside Butterworth, asked to have a meeting with management a month ago, they claim Teko campus head Thembelihle Ntlangano told them, “Akathethi namakhwekwe” (I do not speak with boys).
Students then occupied the campus for four weeks and were removed on Friday by police with an eviction order. The college was closed on Monday.
Students complain about a shortage of lecturers. They also want the students who do not have enough for the registration fees or who applied late because they had to wait for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) payments to be allowed to register for next year.
In a memorandum sent to the college management, the students complained there were no functional toilets; that there were 17 students inside a single small dormitory; classes were closed in the evening and students had no study space; and there is a lack of transparency around student funding.
Teko Campus Sasco Chairperson Calvin Nhlambo said they had tried to raise these issues with the management before students resorted to protests. He said the main issue was registration fees. Nhlambo also alleges that they found their registration forms on a dumping site, some already burned.
Student leader Ongeze Mpiti said 300 students were now staying at a community hall in Butterworth.
College Principal Noluthando Balfour confirmed students were boycotting, refusing to pay the minimum registration of R710.
She said students vandalised the college infrastructure, damaging the computer laboratory and broke 248 windows, staff room doors and its ablution facility, air-conditioners and cameras. They also threatened to burn the vehicles of college staff.
“The college does not support anarchy and it is my responsibility to protect the college property, staff and other students by all means,” said Balfour.
Balfour said none of the students representatives had told her about being insulted by any member of management. She was aware of the blocked toilets and they were being attended to. Balfour said students burnt the application forms when they burnt the administration office and then dumped the forms at a dump site.
“We believe the reason for this was to destroy all the information that relates to the registered students. The college management engaged the department to reopen the system for our students to register and students are now allowed to register until Friday 16 [September],” she said.
Campuses in the Eastern Cape have been rocked by a spate of protests. This is the first report GroundUp has run on King Hintsa TVETC.
See also: Residences set alight at two King Sabatha Dalindyebo Technical and Vocational Training campuses
Students occupy campuses at King Sabatha Dalindyebo technical colleges