Eastcape Midlands College students started a fire outside the administration buildings, threw bricks on to the roof, and let down car tyres yesterday, as tensions grew after Monday's announcement that Information Technology and Computer Science students must relocate to the college's Uitenhage campus.
Eastcape Midlands College students started a fire outside the administration buildings, threw bricks on to the roof, and let down car tyres yesterday, as tensions grew after Monday's announcement that Information Technology and Computer Science students must relocate to the college's Uitenhage campus.
For the past two days, students have been demonstrating outside the college building in Constitution Street, near the provincial education department's Milner Street offices, creating an atmosphere that Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, Elmari van de Merwe, described as chaotic.
Explaining the need for the students to move, Van de Merwe said that of 120 students who had started the course at Level 2 in 2009, only 14 had progressed to Level 4. According to the norms and standards stipulated by the Department of Higher Education and Training, it was no longer economically viable for the institution to offer the course, she said.
Top management came from the offices in Uitenhage to discuss a solution – but the fact that they kept students waiting only made matters worse, and they became restless. Van de Merwe said it had been difficult to hold the meeting, because the students had been making so much noise outside. She described it as "chaotic" and said they were "really trying to support them".
All the students interviewed insisted on remaining anonymous, especially those present during yesterday's incidents, because the campus manager, Nomfusi Ntsho, had warned them they would be expelled if college property was damaged. One student said most of them involved had not agreed to move to Uitenhage, because they were afraid of "empty promises".
Even an offer from college management to use money from the Principal Bursary Fund to pay for their relocation, transport and accommodation was not enough to persuade some of the students to accept the offer. Van de Merwe said that on Wednesday afternoon, the Dean of Student Affairs had secured the signatures of 13 Level 4 students and two Level 3s, who had agreed to relocate, on the condition that their transport and accommodation costs would be covered.
At this point, Van de Merwe said, members of the ANC Youth League had arrived and disrupted the negotiations. Van de Merwe said a date for a meeting between the ANCYL, the SRC, top management, parents, and Grahamstown campus staff had not yet been finalised.
