Hundreds of students gathered and slept outside the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg campus on Wednesday, saying they do not have accommodation and have not been located any accommodation for the past month.
The students who come as far as Cape Town came to the University and slept near the school gate after they were admitted to the institution, but still had no accommodation to live in. Paulina Lepheana, a student from Cape Town, said she has been struggling to find accommodation, like all the other students in Pietermaritzburg, for over a month now. She added that at the moment she is sharing a room with one of the students who was given accommodation.
“I was accepted and was also granted a permit to be at the campus. When I arrived, I was told there was no accommodation allocated for me and I’ve been trying to find assistance ever since,” she said. Malusi Zuma, the president of the Student Command Council (SRC), said they have been communicating with the university’s management team. The issue of accommodation has been a serious problem for the students at UKZN.
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“This is the first situation where students had to sleep outside the campus gates. There is a shortage of accommodation in Pietermaritzburg and the ones available are not enough to accommodate them all,” said Zuma.
Mormah Zondo, the university’s executive director, said the staff at the Department of Student Residence Affairs (DSRA) are working hard to ensure that the new students who are entering for the first time are allocated accommodation.
Source: News24, The Witness, Image from The Witness
