Durban – An accommodation crisis has led to a temporary shutdown of the Durban University of Technology (DUT) as more than 1 000 students wait to be given beds.
The university opened on Monday and student leaders claim some of the affected students had been sleeping in university owned buildings.
Alan Khan, DUT’s Senior Director of Corporate Affairs, said the academic programme had been suspended for two days and would resume on Monday.
“DUT management decided to suspend all lectures, laboratory and practical sessions, tutorials and assessments, after discussions with the SRC. This follows the serious challenges faced by many students who still require accommodation."
“We feel that suspending the programme for two days will be in the best interests of the entire University community,” he said.
Extended registration would still continue this week, said Khan.
In a document on “engagements and agreements with the SRC” distributed on Tuesday following a marathon meeting, DUT said it needed close to 1 300 beds.
“This is the most difficult challenge, in that DUT was never designed to be a residential university, neither has it received enough funds from the government to increase the number of beds substantially."
“Currently, it has 1 975 beds from its own residence. For 2017 the plan was to procure an additional 2802 beds from external providers so it could have a total of 4 777. The number last year was 4 709,” said the document.
It said about 3 509 beds had been allocated and 1 268 more beds were still needed.
“This is proving to be difficult as we continue to compete with MUT (Mangosuthu University of Technology) and UKZN for these (beds) out there.”
In some instances the university would be at the point of signing a contract when the accommodation provider would pull out, having been offered a better deal elsewhere.
DUT said it hoped to have procured about 568 beds more this week.
Students, however, accused the university of incompetence.
“There are about 1500 students that are already here who need beds according to management, but the figure could be much higher.
“The management is to blame here. They lost buildings to other institutions and that is a lack of proper planning,” said Gazuzu Nduli, a member of the EFF Student Command. He said some of the students had been sleeping in a building that was being renovated.
“There is a building, Stratford Residence, that is owned by the university. Some of the students are being accommodated for a night and some have returned to their homes because their parents are concerned.”
Nduli said there was also a student funding issue.
“It’s our understanding that all students who qualify for NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) funding should be allowed to register, but that is not happening, many of our brothers and sisters are still waiting.”
The university said it was writing to the funding scheme to remind it about the spirit of the 2016 agreement that said the students who need funding should get it.