Over 5000 university students remain at residences during lockdown

UCT students pack up their belongings after the institution notified them to vacate residences within 72 hours. Picture: Courtney Africa / African News Agency (ANA)

UCT students pack up their belongings after the institution notified them to vacate residences within 72 hours. Picture: Courtney Africa / African News Agency (ANA)

Published Mar 28, 2020

Share

Johannesburg - More than 5 000 students remain at the residences of the country’s 23 universities, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande revealed on Saturday. 

The bulk of the students were from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, with over 1800 students, University of Johannesburg with over 940 students, University of the Western Cape with over 370 students and Nelson Mandela University, with over 382 students. 

Nzimande said the majority of students who remained on campus residences were international students. 

Universities around the country started evacuating local students from residences last week. At the University of Witwatersrand, law students took the institution to court and lost in their bid to force the institution to stay at the residence.

However, Nzimande raised concerns about the misuse of residences. He said at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape, 60 students were found to be on campus residence. When this was vetted, the university learnt that more than half of the students were not registered at the institution. 

“I must say that most of these students are international students who are not from our country. I am also concerned that there were 60 students at Fort Hare, 40 of them were not registered but staying at our res. 

“It can’t be as a country that we are struggling so much with accommodation and it is occupied by people who are not even registered,” said Nzimande. 

Nzimande said universities were working hard to ensure that those students who remained on campus complied with the regulations.

* For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak visit IOL's  #Coronavirus trend page.

** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 

IOL 

Related Topics: