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A national body representing thousands of students at state-funded colleges has vowed to push for a continued shutdown of these institutions if Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande fails to sign an agreement tomorrow.
For almost a week, several colleges in the country have been closed after the South African Further Education and Training Student Association (Safetsa) declared a national shutdown of Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges on Thursday last week.
There are 50 of these colleges and 26 universities nationally. City Press learnt that at least 20 colleges were still closed today.
These include Buffalo City College, King Hintsa College and Lovedale College in the Eastern Cape.
Motheo College and Goldfields College were among those closed in the Free State and other affected colleges are in Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.
Nzimande briefed the media today in Pretoria about plans for the current academic year following meetings with student leaders, university vice-chancellors, an organisation representing principals of colleges and their governing councils.
He is scheduled to meet with Safetsa tomorrow in an attempt to find a solution to the ongoing student protests.
Nzimande urged student formations at colleges to engage constructively in discussion with his department and college administrations.
He said this would “strengthen efforts to resolve their many legitimate issues”.
One of the issues was confirmed by a survey conducted by his department in 2015 on the critical matter of student housing at colleges. The survey showed that for the 710 000 college students at the time, there were only 10 120 beds.
“This means that colleges could only provide accommodation for about 1.4% of their students — that is one in 70 students,” Nzimande said.
He said: “Our doors and our ears are open, and we are determined to find solutions together with you. Please do not also forget that while everyone has the constitutional right to protest peacefully, the equally important right of those who wish to continue with teaching and learning, unhindered and without intimidation, must also at all times be respected.”
Some of the issues facing our colleges could be dealt with in the short term if there was goodwill and a willingness to engage, Nzimande said.
“But whether we like it or not, many others will require time to solve, and I’m calling for patience, understanding, and ongoing engagement and dialogue as we work together to resolve these challenges,” the minister said.
However, Safetsa president Yonke Twani said students would back down if Nzimande entered into a deal tomorrow.
“They have failed us in the past. We don’t want another talkshow and to just drink coffee with him like we did since 2012 that time is over now. Ours is to make sure there is commitment and an action plan detailing systems to be implemented and time frames.”
Twani said students would not return to classes until such a commitment had been achieved.
Students submitted a list of grievances to Nzimande earlier this month before declaring a total shutdown of colleges.
These included:
» Outstanding certificates dating to 2012;
» Reduction of student enrolment;
» Pending results;
» Skewed allocation of infrastructure grants to colleges compared to universities;
» Late National Student Financial Aid Scheme payments;
» Lack of in-service training for college graduates; and
» Unqualified lecturers employed at colleges.
Twani said students appreciated that Nzimande has agreed that their issues were genuine.
“It is not like we do not want to learn but these are genuine issues. What is the use of learning when you are not going to get your certificate at the end? We also want to make sure that these institutions are well resources, governed and run by capable people,” Twani said.
He said about 20 colleges were currently closed while others were in the process of being closed down.
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