Grahamstown landlords may fall foul of new minimum standards being gazetted for student accommodation, reports Chelsea MacLachlan.
When Kevin Mgwali returns to his tiny two-man residence room he is met with not just one roommate, but four.
Grahamstown landlords may fall foul of new minimum standards being gazetted for student accommodation, reports Chelsea MacLachlan.
When Kevin Mgwali returns to his tiny two-man residence room he is met with not just one roommate, but four.
The 76 kilometres to Alice may take it out of Grahamstown's back yard – he's a student at the University of Fort Hare – but complaints of similar overcrowding keep emerging in Grahamstown.
And new regulations regarding student accommodation, expected to be signed into law in the next few months, may prove a double-edged sword for students in digs, with landlords forced to pass on to them the cost of compliance upgrades.
Better student accommodation must be provided if South African students are to succeed academically according to Dr Iain L'Ange, Executive Director of Infrastructure, Finance and Operations at Rhodes University.
Last year, L'Ange spearheaded an investigation into the state of South African student accommodation. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) released the report in March and the results were not pretty.
Only 30% of all university students nationally who apply for accommodation receive it, and even then, what they are met with is often squalid conditions, poor infrastructure and overcrowding.
“The living conditions here are terrible,” said Mgwali. “I have failed some of my tests because there are no study lamps and the noise is so bad.” His extra three roommates sleep on the floor.
Cases of overcrowding in residence rooms are all too common in other parts of the country.
A University of Limpopo student who asked not to be named said squatters were impinging on his academic career.
“My roommate would sublet out parts of the room, giving me no space to study,” he said. “The squatters would just draw a line and say, this is your side. I couldn’t study like that.”
This student did not qualify to write his 2011 exams.
“It is an indictment on all who live in this country that some of the greatest talents of the next generation, and many of its future leaders, are being [forced]to live and learn under such appalling conditions,” the department's report said.
It also shows that students living in overcrowded residences with poor infrastructure show lower pass rates and higher drop-out rates.
L'Ange said the link between students’ living conditions and their academic success is undeniable.
Rhodes leads the pack in terms of decent student accommodation, with the highest residence staff to student ratio in the country at 1:19. This is in stark contrast to universities where a single staff member might be responsible for up to 600 students.
“What Rhodes provides is higher than the minimum standard,” L’Ange said. This was based on the report’s stated basic requirements, including targets of accommodation for 80% of students at rural campuses, and 50% of students at campuses in metro areas such as Grahamstown.
With 55% of its students in residences, Rhodes easily meets that target.
But there are landlords in Grahamstown who may need to make changes to meet the new minimum requirements. According to L'Ange, students have reported overcrowding at The Grand Res in High Street – a claim supported by former resident Zihle Nyathi.
They would have up to four people in one room, she said of the converted hotel rooms.
This claim was strongly denied by Grand Res manager Milly Wessels.
“There is no such thing,” she told Grocott's Mail angrily last week (Tuesday 11 Sept), saying Grocott's Mail would be interdicted from publishing the student's claim.
The Dean of Students had previously tried to intervene in matters at the Grand Res and he had offered comment on their residence model, said L'Ange, without much success.
However, if the Department of Higher Education and Training report's minimum standards become law, the Grand Res would have to follow those rules. Included in the report is the suggestion that private residences housing more than 10 students should be accredited by the respected university and should comply with the minimum standards – including a maximum of two students per room. This means Grahamstown digs accommodating 10 or more people would also have to comply with the minimum standards surrounding safety, quality, room size and hygiene.
The cost of this is, however, likely to be passed on to the already overburdened students.
Nationally, the situation nationally seems dire: another 200 000 beds would be needed immediately just to accommodate the current students’ needs. Higher education minister Blade Nzimande admits in the report: “This is primarily the responsibility of the state and, where feasible, the universities themselves.”
Recently all 22 universities of South Africa met with the department and the report’s committee to submit collective comment on the minimum standards suggested.
Comments were favourable, said L'Ange. “The department has to gazette the minimum standards, targets and recommendations before the end of the financial year. This comes after the minister announced in Parliament in April of an injection of R850 million into refurbishing university residences over the next two years.
To view the Department of Higher Education and Training's 'Report on the Ministerial Committee for the review of the provision of student housing at South African Universities' go to: http://bit.ly/KwPsm4
