Around a dozen students locked themselves in a room at the Frontier Hotel on Monday this week, in a stand-off with manager Lungile Mxube.
Around a dozen students locked themselves in a room at the Frontier Hotel on Monday this week, in a stand-off with manager Lungile Mxube.
The move came after 14 East Cape Midlands College students were evicted from the hotel in the past week. The 14 students, sharing seven rooms, have been accommodated at the hotel since July.
The hotel serves as a hostel for students from the college, as well as some working people.
Funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme released at the end of June has paid for the students' accommodation until now.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail outside the building on Tuesday morning, two students who did not want to be named fearing victimisation, said Mxube had ordered them to pack up and go.
"Last night he told us that we need to be out of the building early this morning (Tuesday)," one student said. Another student said Mxube had claimed the hotel was to be auctioned on Tuesday.
Mxube had told the students he would kick them out of the hotel on Monday night, the students said.
"He said was doing us a favour by allowing us to stay in the building."
By 12.30pm on Tuesday, students who had decided to hold out against the eviction weren't sure what would happen next.
In a telephone interview, one student said she was still at the hotel. She said since Mxube had warned them on Monday, no one had approached them.
"We haven't been told anything. We are still here," she said.
While some left on Monday night, several students who had nowhere to go barricaded themselves inside a room in the building on Tuesday, hoping a solution would be found by the afternoon.
Former-owner of the building Savva Koushis confirmed the students had been evicted by their landlord, Mxube. Koushis told Grocott's Mail he had legally evicted Mxube from the hotel. Mxube leased a portion of the building.
In the 29 August edition of Grocott's Mail we reported on Koushis's efforts to get the electricity supply to the hotel disconnected. This came after he discovered an account opened by Mxube for the hotel was in arrears of more than R500 000.
"He actually kicked the students out on to the street without any alternative accommodation," Koushis said. Koushis said he had on a number of occasions tried to no avail to get the municipality to cut Mxube's electricity supply.
The hotel is currently under new ownership, according to Koushis. Speaking to Grocott's Mail on Tuesday, Mxube explained that he had been running the hotel at a loss and finally decided to call it quits.
"The college has not paid me since February. I have been asking the students since February to bring letters from the college to confirm that they qualify for bursaries and I have not received anything.
"This is not an RDP, it's a business," he said. Mxube claims that he has been accommodating 65 students in the hotel at a rate of R1 600 per student per month.
"You can calculate for yourself by how much that money amounts to over a period of eight months," he said. Mxube said he was not making any profit from running the hotel, because he also had to deal with maintenance issues.
"I have done everything that a reasonable person can do.
"I'm still waiting to see who can come out and do what I did without getting paid for eight months," he said.
Explaining the altercation between himself and the students, Mxube said he had not kicked the students out, but had asked them to find alternative accommodation.
The embattled landlord told Grocott's Mail that the college owed him about R1.9 million, adding that he has contracts and copies of agreements in his possession to prove how much he is owed by the college.
He said he had complied with all the College's requirements.
Assistant director in the College's Port Elizabeth head office Elmari van der Merwe distanced the college from the allegations of non-payment. She said it was the students' responsibility to pay for their own accommodation.
"Our own liability is to look at the accommodation and see what condition it is in and inform them what landlords are available.
"It's between the students and the landlords to arrange payment," she said.
Van der Merwe had promised to email Grocott's Mail documentation regarding this matter, but nothing had been received at the time of going to press.
