Some Eastcape Midlands College (EMC) students are leaving Grahamstown, fearing eviction from their rented accommodation.
Some Eastcape Midlands College (EMC) students are leaving Grahamstown, fearing eviction from their rented accommodation.
This comes as the College stuck to its guns on funding allocations from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
It also follows a meeting last week, attended by over 400 EMC students, landlords and local politicians at the city hall, to address accommodation funding problems.
Odwa Bikisha, one of the students who has returned home for fear of losing his residence in Grahamstown, said: “Last year my landlord was generous enough to give me a place to stay for R480 a month, whereas I should be paying R1 600.”
Bikisha said he would “love to come back”, but cannot afford to pay for his accommodation costs without the EMC’s assistance.
After a number of pickets and stay-aways last week, students again protested on the 31 March and 1 April, boycotting classes.
Protests were sparked by the EMC's move to cut by 43% the R1 600 per month accommodation allocation from the NSFAS.
The EMC previously held a meeting for parents and students on 10 March, in an attempt to restore peace at the college.
The college's report on this meeting said the principal, Justice Mbana, was heckled and that that there was “a significant presence of external elements”, namely the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Those on stage had to be evacuated by security.
The meeting ended without resolution.
On Friday, students handed a memorandum to the EMC, demanding that accommodation funding issues be addressed. In the absence of a response regarded as acceptable to the students, they again took to the streets in protest.
Some students are now concerned about their academic progress.
Zipho Canda, who is staying with a friend and so is not affected by the accommodation crisis, is worried his grades will suffer.
“We have not done much. We should be half-way through the syllabus now,” he said.
On 1 April, the EMC said that tests that should have taken place last week would be postponed until 14 April, allowing time for students to catch up.
The student protests have persisted despite EMC warnings on 25 March that should students not cease protesting, “a High Court application for an interdict will be sought to prevent the SRC members and all students of EMC, as well as any other organisation, from participating and inciting towards the continuation of the protest”.
Students were advised that failure to adhere to the interdict would be considered a criminal offence and may result in students being arrested.
On 26 March, the EMC received “intimidating” letters from the ANCYL, SACP and the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA).
The EMC insists that "the contracts for accommodation for our students are between the landlords and the students and not between EMC and the landlords".
Documents provided to students and landlords stipulated that "even in cases where a bursary is allocated to a student there is no guarantee that a 100% funding will be allocated" to that student.
This documentation also said there may be delays in payment to landlords for those on bursaries.
Lungile Mxube, chairperson of the EMC Landlords Forum, is dissatisfied with this response. “EMC management have displayed arrogance and selfishness,” said Mxube.
