MBOMBELA – Students at the city campus of the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) are now using the national #FeesMustFall movement to address other demands, such as better food and sporting facilities.
The campus was closed again yesterday and students submitted their list with additional demands to management.
They first closed the campus to staff and construction workers on Thursday, demanding that university fees don’t increase next year.
Following a meeting between the president, Mr Jacob Zuma, vice-chancellors and student- representative councils, it was announced on Friday afternoon that there will be no increase in 2016.
However, students wouldn’t budge and continue to demand that fees must decrease. As a result, some campuses across the country remain closed, and many have postponed exams.
At UMP, which currently has about 850 students on three campuses, university management had already decided that residence fees would decrease next year.
Yesterday Prof John Shongwe told Lowvelder that he was surprised by the new demands.
“When we left them on Friday afternoon, we thought we were all on the same page,” he said. “But this morning we were greeted by this list.
“The students are taking advantage of the situation to raise issues, relating to catering and meals, things that can easily be addressed in the course of the academic year,” he added.
But the students disagreed. They wanted total fees and registration fees to decrease.
“We have other internal issues on our campus. We have been pushing since January, and management has shown no sign of giving our grievances consideration,” said Mmusi Khoza, student-council chairman.
“Those of us who have bursaries don’t receive our monthly stipend, not just from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme but also the Mpumalanga Department of Education, the National Youth Development Agency and the Agricultural Sector Education and Training Authority.
When we tell management, they tell us the funds have been reversed to other students.”
Mr Mzwakhe Nkosi, South African Students Congress branch secretary, said they were paying too much for what they were getting from UMP.
“It costs R65 000 per year, and look at the conditions. There are no sporting facilities and construction is ongoing. It is very loud and we are breathing dust all the time. It is problematic.”
Since they wouldn’t let anyone onto the campus, the resident students say they were running short of food. But Khoza explained, “We cannot open the gates until our demands are met.”
Following the request by Zuma that examinations be postponed, Shongwe said a new exam date was one of the things they were discussing.
He pointed out that the most pressing matter regarding the campus shutdown is that it is holding up construction.
“We are worried about it. They are on a very tight schedule. We want the students to be able to move in, in January.”
Nkosi said the students knew this very well. “It puts management in a corner, so that our negotiations can go as quickly as possible.”
But if they don’t get satisfactory answers, they are willing to keep it on lockdown until Christmas.
“They are depriving our brothers and sisters who want to join us here,” Khoza said. “We understand it is a new university, but they must not experiment on us like this.”
Management was to meet with the student leadership at an off-campus venue late yesterday.
University of Mpumalanga students join fees protest in Mbombela, October 23 2015, 09:32
MBOMBELA – Students at the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) have joined the #FeesMustFall movement, in solidarity with students at other tertiary institutions who have been protesting proposed fees hikes for 2016.
University of #Mpumalanga students join fees protest. https://t.co/TLcH7he62p @LowveldMedia #FeesMustFall pic.twitter.com/QnKpWdOmzq
— Mireille de Villiers (@antwall85) October 22, 2015
Students at Wits, UCT, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Rhodes, Stellenbosch, Free State, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan, University of Johannesburg University of Pretoria and Fort Hare have embarked on strikes, at times clashing with police against a proposed 10 per cent increase in fees.
Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training (Dhet), Dr Blade Nzimande, announced on Tuesday that the increase would be capped at six per cent.
#FeesMustFall #TUT some students blocked the entrance to the dep offices and vowed not to move till tonight. #VA #C pic.twitter.com/orLd4QqNxi
— The Citizen News (@TheCitizen_News) October 22, 2015
UMP students posed as barricades inside the university’s gates on Wednesday evening and continued on Thursday morning, not allowing construction workers on the premises. Their placards showed that they opposed even a six per cent increment in fees.
They seemed peaceful. There was no violence reported. The police presence was small, and they kept their distance from the students.
University management said it was the pupils’ right to show solidarity with their counterparts elsewhere.
But the students said it was more than that, they were concerned over their own fees increasing.
One told Lowvelder his grandmother paid for his education with her pension.
“If they increase fees by 10 per cent, they must increase her pension by 20 per cent. It must be balanced.”
Prof Ric Bernard, acting vice-chancellor at UMP, while Prof Thoko Manyekiso is on a visit to universities in the United States, said they were nearing the end of the process of determining the increase for its academic programmes, but he expected it to come in well below six per cent.
Earlier this week management met with the 200 education students at the Siyabuswa Campus, after receivng letters of concern from them. Since each of their studies were funded by the Department of Basic Education’s Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme, an increase would not affect their pocket, Bernard said.
As management was locked out of their offices at the time of speaking to the newspaper, the exact numbers were not on hand, but many of UMP’s 830 students studied with assistance.
Prof John Shongwe said all the ICT students had bursaries, and many others received funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
WATCH:
As one of the two new universities established since 1994, UMP’s funding model from the Dhet was different from other institutions.
Where established, tertiary institutions received government funding per student, UMP got an annual lump sum.
Bernard said this was to help make the university become sustainable.
“Just because we are small, it doesn’t mean we don’t need a big human resources department, as we are making more appointments than big institutions.”
UMP hopes to have hired 24 additional staff members by December, to support its planned doubling of student numbers in 2016, and addition of six
courses to the programme offering next year.
Bernard said UMP’s council had decided to lower the fees for the residences.
Four new blocks were being constructed and should be ready for occupancy in January, bringing the housing total to 450.
“In our context, where many students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, we want to house as many first-year pupils as we can, to give them the complete first-year experience,” he added.
“Realistically students have to pay for education.”
Late yesterday morning management was handed a memorandum from the South African Students Congress (Sasco)-led leadership, demanding that fees wouldn’t increase next year.
The students dispersed for the most part, but kept the gates closed. They said they would continue with their protest until their demands were met.
In the meantime, public-order police have been deployed to campuses elsewhere, after students forced their way into parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Max Price proud of son and UCT students https://t.co/Dk9fRpjXe5 #FeesMustFall pic.twitter.com/LiGMORGN5Y
— The Citizen News (@TheCitizen_News) October 22, 2015
“The security-force deployment around the affected tertiary institutions is informed by the need to maintain law and order and to ensure that those who are not taking part in these protests are able to go about their business without any fear of intimidation or reprisals,” the police said in a statement.
“We believe that all forms of violence during these protests should be condemned.”
The South African Communication Association (SACOMM) noted with concern that freedom of expression and speech rights have been violated in various instances related to the student protests.
“Our students have legitimate concerns over the rising cost of tuition fees, which serve as a mechanism for economic exclusion from higher education.
“The students and others protesting in solidarity, are within their constitutionally protected rights to express these concerns through protest action, assembly, organising and mobilising, and via media communications channels such as the social media.”
SACOMM notes various instances where student groups have been denied practising their rights, including:
• An interdict granted by the Western Cape High Court against UCT students and #FeesMustFall
• University of Pretoria shutting down its Wifi service and campus, preventing students from participating
• Armed police at recent protests near Wits
• The arrest and detention of students at UCT
• The use of stun grenades and rubber bullets by the police against protesting students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
• The use of violence and stun grenades by public order policing against students outside of Parliament in Cape Town
• Various instances of police violence against protesting students at the Tshwane University of Technology
- Read more: UMP’s first ever inauguration ceremony.
