Durban - Classes were scheduled to resume at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) on Monday, but student leaders at the Westville campus are having none of it, insisting university management restarts negotiations.
They feel that when the management and student leaders of four other campuses met to discuss issues affecting the students, the Westville campus was not represented.
Westville student representative council president, Lukhanyo Mtshingana, who was arrested on September 15 and charged with public violence, spent a month in jail.
This came after a university building was torched and cars destroyed.
Protest action has bedevilled the university since February.
While UKZN students had been fighting for affordable education and better living conditions, a nationwide university student protest had broken out, with a demand for no increase on student fees and free education.
Mtshingana, who was in jail at the time, was finally released on October 15.
After the victory achieved by the #FeesMustFall campaign, students were expected to return to class, but Nash Khumalo, Congress of the South African Students (Cosas) chairman at the campus, said their main demands had not been addressed.
“We have been engaging the management on a number of issues way before the #FeesMustFall campaign. We appreciate the victory but we are saying back here at home, we demand to be heard.
“We said because of the recent strike at the university, every student must be allowed to write exams. Even those with DPs that are below 40%.”
Under the “DP” or “duly performed” system, students must qualify to write final exams by successfully completing a certain number of tests and assignments.
“We have raised the issue of accommodation, which is substandard, and the inequality in the allocation of funds to faculties.
“The school of medicine is better off compared to other faculties. Unfortunately the management is not taking our concerns seriously because they have since ignored our requests for negotiations,” Khumalo said.
The minimum requirement to write exams is 40% DP on the course work (from February).
Student representative structures were in meetings on Monday discussing their options.
Mtshingana said: “We have been requesting meetings but we have not been getting feedback. Our e-mails are not responded to.
“We are not apologetic about our demands and things will only go back to normal once the management listens to the students.”
In a statement on Thursday, UKZN said academic programmes would resume today.
The Durban University of Technology, which joined the #FeesMustFall campaign on Thursday, also said academic programmes would resume today. “We have notified students via SMS on Friday that examinations will resume on Monday,” said spokesman, Alan Khan, on Monday.
Retired constitutional law Professor George Devenish said it was vital that both parties reached a compromise.
“For the sake of time, and for the sake of the students’ future, I think the students should go back to class and then negotiate while attending to their studies. As for the DP requirement, that cannot be waivered just like that,” he said.
Daily News