No progress on TUT Giyani Campus
Five months after Giyani was shut down by a protest on the delay of a planned Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) campus for Giyani, stakeholders are still in the dark.
According to Vusi Chauke of the Giyani Concerned Residents (GCR), they have not received any update from the office of the former Minister of Higher Education Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, or TUT regarding the progress on the campus. In February GCR blockaded roads and burned tyres leading to town, preventing commuters from going to work and school.
A lack of communication from the department on the planned new campus fueled the demonstration by GCR. In September 2022, Nzimande engaged stakeholders on a plan to revive the former Giyani College of Education to become a TUT campus. “We plan to have the campus operating in 2024. By February when the academic year begins, the Giyani campus must be accepting students.
Also read: Blade on TUT Giyani Campus delay
“We have made it our obligation to bring education to rural areas, and by doing so we must also bring universities to rural areas,” Nzimande explained in 2022 during a stakeholders meeting. The shutdown in February came to an end after the police, GCR, and the Greater Giyani Municipality (GGM) reached an agreement that they would write to Nzimande and TUT stating their demands, which included an update on the progress of rebuilding the former college.
Chauke says the lack of response by TUT and the ministers’ office, shows that they are being undermined. “Our people and the entire Mopani district deserve quality education,” adds Chauke. He says they will write another letter to the new Minister Nobuhle Nkabane, TUT, Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba, GGM, and the Mopani District Municipality (MDM).
Also read: Concerned residents shutdown the streets of Giyani over TUT campus
They say they will embark on another protest if they are ignored. GGM and MDM told the Herald they have not communicated with the department. TUT spokeswoman, Phaphama Tshisikhawe said “public universities have neither authority nor budgets to establish new campuses. This is the prerogative of the Department of Higher Education. The department, through its erstwhile minister, has made known its intention to establish a TUT campus in Giyani. TUT is collaborating with the department in this regard.
