TUT students take to the streets over proposed move
The management just woke up and decided that we should move, they never consulted us about anything.”
Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) students in Pretoria West took to the streets on Wednesday morning.
The students wanted to make their voices heard against management’s decision to move them to new accommodation.
They said they were being “forced” to move from campus residences to off-campus accommodation that did not meet their standards.
The students claimed they were told in August, when they returned, that they had to vacate their residences.
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They claimed they were never told how long they would be staying off campus by management. They were also not happy that they would have to share rooms at the new place.
“We do not want to share rooms. We are staying in single rooms most of us. The management just woke up and decided that we should move, they never consulted us about anything.”
EFF chairperson Kingsly Baloyi said students were not refusing to move but would continue to demonstrate until their cries are heard.
“Management says they want to renovate the student residences. We do not disagree with the issue, we just want management to agree that if we are taken out from there that they will set us up in proper residences where everything is fine. They just want to dump students and do not care.”
Isabel Ntloana of SRC student services and support said the problem was that students did not receive answers as to how long they would be away from their campus accommodation.
“Even to me, this thing came as an instruction to move the students, not as a consultation to whether students are comfortable or not. I’m not a messenger to the university, I am a student representative.”
ALSO READ: TUT students to return to residences, with restrictions
Ntloana said the proposed move would affect 1 113 students and more from a different campus.
TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.
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