Westcol Randfontein students sent the staff a flaming message and promise more disruptions and vandalism should their demands not be met.
Angry students on campus. Photo: Roxy de Villiers
On Thursday, 12 May students set their student access gate alight and said they have had enough of the college not listening to their complaints or solving the issue they currently have with their bursary money.
Nationally, 13 schools in Limpopo reportedly were set alight by protesters who are displeased with a court ruling.
This is just the beginning.
“This is just to get the message across, if our demands are not met, we will burn corporate as well,” said Moraba Chuba, Deputy Chairperson of the Student Council.
The root of the students’ complains are their bursary money which Chuba said they have not received.
“They won’t allow us to write our exams if we haven’t attended 80 percent of our classes. I’ll go to 80 percent of my classes when I have the bursary money, which is by right my money, to travel to college 80 percent of the time,” Chuba said.
“They are not using our money properly and they are not listening to us. We put forward a motion of no confidence in the campus manager months ago and to this day, we have still not received any feedback.”
The students said they are done dealing with Westcol, they would now like to deal with Blade Nzimande, South African Minister of Higher Education and Training.
The students have also highlighted how Westcol have moved their entrance as a result of residents complaining about students making noise outside their homes and loittering on their properties.
This is a racist move, the people who live here knew they were moving into a property opposite the college. If they don’t like the institution then they should move.
“They moved our entrance to the back in a veld. It’s a dirt road and when it rains we can’t get into campus because it’s flooded and full of mud so this burned gate, we don’t want it,” Chuba explained.
The student council has vowed that exams will not take place until further notice and Westcol Randfontein’s campus manager will be prevented from entering the campus also until further notice.
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