Rhodes students alighting from a campus shuttle service on Wednesday 7 August were forced to join around 150 students gathered in protest outside the university buildings.
Rhodes students alighting from a campus shuttle service on Wednesday 7 August were forced to join around 150 students gathered in protest outside the university buildings.
The protesters were reacting to the announcement that a campus shuttle service was being closed down.
The service takes students from the university to various points in the city. It is a free service, funded by the SRC.
The students gathered in the Steve Biko building, where SRC president Sakh’usomeleze Badi told them the service could no longer be maintained without aid from Rhodes University Finance and it would stop on Monday 12 August.
Suggestions from furious students ranged from holding strikes to boycotting lectures.
Badi spoke in their support. “We as students are here for academics and nothing else, we are not here to strike deals with private companies."
"We should not have to spend time worrying about issues of transport when we are here to learn,” Badi said.
The crowd then marched towards the clock tower to hand over a petition to the university administration. The group sang struggle songs and stopped to block traffic between the library and the pharmacy department.
During the march, protesters forced students using the service to get off the bus and join them. This action was later condemned in a press release by oppidan chairperson Darren Wolhuter.
The march ended at the foot of the clock tower, where – in pouring rain – students met with deputy vice chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela.
The students handed the petition to Mabizela, who assured them it would be tabled before a meeting of stakeholders on Thursday 15 August.
He told them they would be informed of the response and thanked them for coming to voice their concerns in the rain.
SRC secretary general Mathaabe Thabane said the SRC-funded shuttle would still run on Monday 12 August, as it is a service paid for through levies.
It would be discontinued, however, because of financial issues. More than 250 students now made use of the service, Thabane said.
This meant one bus would no longer be sufficient to cater for all of them.
Students toyi-toyed and SRC representatives (secretary general Mathaabe Thabane and President Sakh'usomeleze Badi) handed over their petition to deputy vice chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela.
(Video: Brian Dingle)
