Nokwanda Mhlongo‚ the leader of a group of students without accommodation‚ said they were locked out of temporary accommodation on Friday night. This as the university scrambles to source housing for well over 1‚000 students.
Pictures sent to TMG Digital show the students outside one of the institution’s residences. Earlier in the week they even camped out on the steps of the main campus administration block‚ with mattresses and luggage lining the steps.
Mhlongo said: “I am far from home and I am not the only one. We have not bathed in days. Where can I go? We will stay here until they decide to deal with us.”
The university has blamed the situation on the students themselves‚ saying that the 1‚131 without accommodation had not applied for student housing — a claim the students deny.
“Some of the major challenges we faced as a university with regard to planning for this matter is that we did not know how many students were receiving full NSFAS [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] packages as these were only confirmed in recent weeks. We also cannot control the fact that 1‚131 students‚ who are now demanding housing after registration‚ did not apply for student accommodation‚” DUT said in a statement.