Registration and water blues for students

NSFAS uncertainty causes delay

STUDENT registrations at Walter Sisulu University were postponed yesterday amid confusion over National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding.

WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said registration had been postponed at all of the university’s campuses due to unconfirmed numbers of students who would be assisted by NSFAS.

There was added misery for registering students at WSU’s Ibika campus, which was hit by water cuts.

By 1pm yesterday, with temperatures above 30°C, there was no tap or tank water available on campus.

Inside student residences, toilets were blocked, while outside the air was filled with a foul smell coming from nearby bushes where students and university staff had to relieve themselves.

The students’ representative council (SRC) has asked university management to engage with it in order to find a solution.

Should this not happen, warned campus SRC president Zubenathi Sopazi, protracted mass action was looming.

Sopazi said it was unacceptable that the water crisis had gone on for a year.

“We had an expectation that the government will intervene.

“Amathole District Municipality [ADM] came in to assist but 40 000 litres of water a day falls far short to meet the demands of 7 000 people on this campus,” said Sopazi.

“Our interest is not to strike but to come up with possible amicable solutions.

“But due to the arrogance of management we may well end up going for a mass action.”

Tukwayo said it was unfair to blame the university for the continuing water crisis.

“Yes there was no water today [yesterday] because the [ADM] did not deliver the 40 000-litre daily supply that they were supposed to,” said Tukwayo.

Luntu Pamla, of the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania, said there were several short and long-term options WSU could look at that would not rely on government assistance.

Among the options he suggested was the possibility of installing borehole water pumps.

“More tanks just for sanitation is something they can also look at – these water tanks will need no purified water because their role will be just for flushing,” he said.

The ADM could not be reached for comment at the time of writing yesterday. co.za