RETURNING Durban University of Technology students were left furious after coming back to residences to find they had no electricity and other basic utilities.
The students form part of the 33 per cent of the university population that was cleared to be phased in as from 17 June.
These are students in their final year of study (graduating next year) and students in the health sciences faculty.
The students held a protest outside the Renaissance building on Maud Mfusi Road, an outsourced DUT residence, over the uncomfortable conditions they returned to find.
A student who did not want to be identified said they were not allocated to their old rooms, instead put into rooms that belonged to other students.
“When we left in March, it was so sudden so we all left most of our clothes and food in our rooms. So now I don’t understand how they can allocate us to different rooms. I’m in someone else’s room and if something goes missing I am going to be held liable for it,” said the student.
The students said there was no electricity from the first to the third floor and water was being periodically cut. The students also complained of no WiFi.
Njabulo Sangweni, DUT Student Representative Council President, said this was the issue in most of the outsourced residences and he had been speaking to landlords to try to sort the matter out.
“At the moment, it is a contractual matter between DUT and the landlords. The landlords are telling us they cannot resume the services because they have not been paid and unfortunately as the SRC we cannot do much in that matter,” he said.
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Sangweni said he has been in contact with DUT management and the university’s department of housing via emails because of the lockdown.
Dr Maditsane Nkonoane, Dean of Student Services at DUT, confirmed the students had been re-allocated to different rooms.
He said the landlords did this as a cost-effective measure because it would have been more costly to keep students in their original rooms/floors when the building is not fully occupied.
“Landlords have been paid 50 per cent advances in lieu of non-payment for the lockdown period in order to bridge their fixed costs. As previously indicated, the university has relied on sound legal counsel not to pay for the lockdown period when students had vacated residences,” said Nkonoane.
Nkonoane said the USAf Task Team met on Wednesday, 24 June to interrogate the draft DHET framework on the payment of leased accommodation in the context of the extended 2020 academic year.
“The lease agreement clearly stipulates that payments are made for service rendered i.e. the actual number of students in occupation at the time of invoicing,” said Nkonoane.
Nkonoane said they had received assurances from landlords that all amenities have been restored. Meanwhile, the university has resumed in-person lectures.
Authorised students and staff are required to fill out an online questionnaire, have their temperatures checked and get sanitised before being allowed onto campus.
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