The safety of students who travel by foot around Corridor Hill is compromised as street lights do not work and there are grass bushes.
Some students residing at the Corridor Hill Residence created a shortcut route to the residence through the open space in front of the hostel from the main road which is now covered by the overgrown grass.
Recently, a girl as she was going to her apartment on March 21 around 19:00 in the evening, was allegedly raped in the bush after an unknown male approached her pointing a firearm demanding that she give him her phone and money.
She gave the man her phone and told him that she does not have money.
The man allegedly took her to the bush near the road and told her to undress herself while he also undressed himself.
After he was done and had fled the scene, she got dressed and preceded to her apartment.
The Corridor Hill Residence Management, Mr Nicko Mthimunye, confirmed that the overgrown grass and non-working lights does compromise the safety of the students.
He said that they have been trying to contact the municipality to cut the grass and fix the lights. He added: “We have made means of cutting the grass on our own and the residence has lighting.”
Mr Marcus Mdau, Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) at TUT eMalahleni campus, said that they are highly disappointed with how the municipality is compromising students’ safety.
“Our students are living in a great residence but are only put in an uncomfortable position by the lack of service delivery and maintenance outside the Corridor Hill Student Residence,” he said.
He added: “We would like the SAPS to do routine rounds around the area to minimise the possibility of repetition such an incident.”
Municipal spokesperson, Kingdom Mabuza, responded to the hold up of service delivery around the area.
He said: “We have been experiencing slight delays in cutting grass in some areas but we doing everything in our power to catch up and clean the environment.”
