Students at Taletso Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College’s Lehurutshe campus, near Zeerust in North West, are faced with poor infrastructure, lack of water and electricity as well as a shortage of computers and staff.
One of the students at the college, Pulane Morgan, who is studying to be a management assistant (N6), said the off-campus accommodation was not safe.
“There is a lack of water on campus and at the student accommodation outside the campus. Also, the students residing at student accommodation continue to use pit latrine because there are no flushing toilets,’ Morgan said.
“Another issue is safety and security at the student accommodation off campus because the area has no fence and there is no electricity too. Imagine how unsafe the area is, especially for female students.”
She said there was a shortage of textbooks at the college.
Campus student representative committee (CSRC) chairperson Jackie Nonong, who is studying public management (N6) at the same campus, shared the same sentiments.
“Most of the students come from poor backgrounds and are marginalised. The CSRC leadership promised to champion the interests of the students. Unfortunately, that mandate is far-fetched. What they are doing is just to sow divisions between students and management instead,” Nonong said.
The Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) president, Mbahare Kekana, who visited the student accommodation, said: “The college needs a firmer oversight role for student housing. We will talk to a few investors and see how we can assist.
“We understand there is funding from NSFAS [the National Student Financial Aid Scheme] and there is nothing that could stop investors coming on board. Our strategy is that we will also strive to having a student accommodation residence built by the F4SD.”
Kekana also committed himself to addressing himself tothe question of water scarity on campus.
#FeesMustFall student activist Bonginkosi Khanyile, who accompanied Kekana during the visit, said it was unfortunate to see students still subjected to this kind of situation in 2022. Khanyile said, however, he expected the young people to take the fight to the doorsteps of power, even though they would want to crush and demoralise them.
Meanwhile, the Taletso TVET College’s campus manager, Justin Bhine, said it was common in Lehurutshe to experience water scarcity. He said the community had been living without potable water for the past 12 years.
“We have two boreholes in the campus and a JoJo tank installed since 2019 to assist as a back-up in case of the inevitable [water shortage] happening.
“On the issue of accommodation, students choose where they want to reside and because of that choice exclusively being bestowed on them, the college is unable to prescribe to them as this may be construed as preferring certain landlords over others.
“It is against this background that students pick cheaper accommodation, at times to their own detriment. NSFAS policy does not make the task easy as well, since we are not given latitude to talk to landlords.”
Bhine said claims of the withholding of results due to nonpayment was a publicity stunt by students, who despite having failed many times, were still given the opportunity to make arrangements to register.
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