Durban - Students at the University of South Africa (Unisa) have “locked in” staff members at the Durban campus on Monday afternoon demanding they work for “24 hours” to register the waiting students.
Students allegedly blocked the staff gate to prevent staff members from leaving.
Unisa has just come off a week-long strike by staff members led by Nehawu, who were demanding better pay.
The staff strike led to many students being unable to register.
“What we know is that a large number of people want the staff members to work long hours. We, as the student body, do not agree with that,” said the SRC Treasurer Nkanyiso Zwide.
“We do not agree with a situation where staff members are expected to work for 15 hours because that could lead to staff making mistakes that could also lead to students not being able to graduate.
“The agreement we have with the university is that they will increase the staff complement to assist with the registration. As the student body we would like to distance ourselves from what is happening,” said Zwide.
Unisa spokesperson Martin Ramotshela said he had received an alert about the incident. “I will need to speak to my Durban colleagues to confirm but I understand that SAPS are on site.”