Cape Town - UCT vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng has called on the Student Representative Council (SRC) to refrain from blocking access to the campus and interrupting services.
The call comes after students blocked entrances at UCT on Wednesday, resulting in the temporary suspension of shuttle service and some classes as the SRC beefed up its protest, alleging that the university did not fulfil its promise of ensuring that all students were registered by Monday.
Police spokesperson FC Van Wyk said approximately 200 students were protesting at the university.
Van Wyk said reports indicated that they were unhappy over internal issues between students and university management.
"No damage has since been reported. Public order police, traffic and metro police were on the scene to monitor the situation," Van Wyk said, adding that three roads on campus were blocked by protesters.
SRC acting president Siya Plaatjie said it was supposed to be the second day of the first semester at UCT.
"In such a fragile time in our university, the leadership of the students finds itself between a rock and a hard place. We are baffled by the VC's desk, one that painted our efforts to fight for those the system excludes, as regressive," Plaatjie said.
She said that tone change left the SRC “discouraged in any efforts to address the plight of the children of the working class”.
She said they met on Saturday, following the campus shutdown on Friday.
"The resolutions were meant to answer the question of not leaving any student behind."
Plaatjie said the SRC's tabled proposal was to halt the academic year until all students were registered, and council had resolved fee blocks.
She said this was rejected on the basis that a lot of effort had gone into getting staff geared up for the start of the academic year on Monday.
"They made us promise not to shut down the campus and (assured) that all students would be registered in time for the start of the academic year," she said.
Phakeng said: "It was disappointing that the SRC has chosen to interfere with access control and the UCT shuttle service, disrupting some aspects of the academic programme."
She said it was regrettable that, because of those interruptions, a number of students were denied access to classes and other facilities.
“Over the past few days, we have been in continual communication with the SRC, providing them with updates on progress in completing the registration process for the new academic year."
She said the university management had explained that the delays in completing registration had been caused by a number of factors including the unprecedented numbers of students seeking personal curriculum advice after the disruptions of the past two years, and the need for students to provide outstanding information required for their registrations to be completed.
Phakeng said UCT recently provided the SRC with a briefing on outstanding registrations.
“As of (yesterday) 512 student registrations were still being processed. Of these, 122 were new submissions, so delayed registration cases still outstanding amounted to 441.”
She said many of those outstanding registrations would be completed by Wednesday.
She said the threshold for the fee block for students with outstanding debt had been raised from R1000 to R10 000 and the grace period for appeals against exclusion for fee debt had been extended to March 31.
Aluta Continua. pic.twitter.com/ntmqltL8QR
— UCT SRC (@UCT_SRC) February 16, 2022
SA Union of Students spokesperson Asive Dlanjwa said the union was engaging with the SRC in a bid to understand reasons for the protest. He said he would give further comments after getting full details on the protest.
SA Students Congress deputy president Buyile Matiwane said the financial exclusion of students at UCT, coupled with the lack of willingness to look at mechanisms to ensure that there were progressive measures that ensured that students were not left in the lurch.
