Students protest to get grievances heard

Student protests have taken centre stage at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Westville (UKZN) and the Durban University of Technology with student representative bodies demanding better accommodation.

Students also want academic exclusion and funding issues with National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) addressed.

Many non-protesting students have been adversely affected. Audiology student from UKZN Westville, Tersia Erasmus, suffers from claustrophobia which is a fear she wishes to overcome.

In a Facebook rant, Erasmus expressed how her university becomes an unsafe environment for the students during protests, “Today strikers from my university and private security companies and the police exchanged stun grenades, petrol bombs, fireworks and God knows what else and turned my beautiful Westville Campus into a bit of a war zone.”

ALSO READ: Westville UKZN protests reignite 

Erasmus added: “There were screams. Loud footsteps. Explosions. Smoke. Many, very, loud noises. I got locked into a venue along with 7 other students a lecturer.. ” for our own safety.” If only that would’ve made me feel safe. Instead I ran through all the risks. The scariest of them at that time being a fire. Locked in a venue, we occasionally had to put the lights off and hide from the windows) where all the windows had burglar bars on and none of us had the key for a quick exit.”

In a statement, Vice Chancellor, Nana Poku, criticised the protesters and said: “I will not dignify such conduct with the term ‘protest’ because it would be unconscionable to react to such actions in any way that normalises them. Outrageous from any perspective, interpersonal violence and material destruction are particularly egregious on a university campus,” said Poku.

ALSO READ: Tempers reach boiling point at Mariannridge Secondary School 

With protests also happening at the Durban University of Technology, senior director of Corporate Affairs, Alan Khan, expressed his disappointment at the recent protesting activity driven by the EFF student body.

“DUT is extremely disappointed that the student protesters disrupted classes and intimidated non-protesting students and staff on some of its Durban campuses today, Monday, 22 July.

While DUT respects the right to protest, the university urges the protesters to also respect the rights of non-protesting students and members of staff,” said Khan.

“The university, through its Student Services Division, has been continuously engaging with the Student Representative Council (SRC) on a number of issues that they have raised,” said Khan.

DUT Fine Art student, Thando Tunzi, said students who are willing to get on with things shouldn’t be exposed to such violence. “Although I’m privileged enough to have accommodation and funding for my studies, there’s many of us here that are easily intimidated by all the protesting and we should not feel compelled to join the protest if we don’t want to.”

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