By Siphesihle Sibaya
In the early hours of the morning on 8 May 2023, UCKAR’s student body occupied and blocked all the entrances to the university, shutting it down for the rest of the day. Staff were prevented from entering the campus’s premises, and all academic activities were halted for the whole day by the SRC and the student body who were protesting. This protest, called #RUShutdown, initiated by the university's SRC, addressed the ignored grievances of students regarding declining infrastructure and the water crises.
This protest was for the grievances of both off-campus students and students living on campus. For residence students, verbal complaints, requisition books and all efforts to fix the endless issues at residence buildings either take a long time to get attended to or fall on deaf ears. The frustration of paying over R75 000 for accommodation fees and living in deteriorating spaces fueled this protest for many residence students. Many pictures of the conditions of the residences were circulated on social media the day before and on the day of the protest. These pictures showed things such as broken toilets, cracked sinks, broken mirrors, falling roofs and many other issues.
Initially, the protest was meant to last for only a day, however, it quickly turned into a two-day shutdown which left residence students without food for 24-hours. After hearing the students' grievances and being given the memorandum of demands by the SRC, the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Sizwe Mabizela, addressed the student body and agreed to go through the demands and make provisions for them. However, UCKAR’s management refused to give food vouchers to residence students, who were told by the SRC on the eve of the night before the shutdown that they would receive them. This is due to the students who protested and participated in the shutdown and, as a result, did not let any staff, including the catering staff, on campus. The actions of the small number of students who protested for the student body's basic rights resulted in a decision that left students hungry.
Students were left starving for hours and all efforts to get the R100 food vouchers came to no avail. The SRC's efforts to provide food for famished students through their emergency funds also met a frustrating fate when management decided to block their accounts. This was emphasized in a released statement by the SRC stating that the university was “resorting to the strong arm tactics of exerting pressure and exercising power dynamics to control its student leaders and the Student body.” In response, UCKAR published a statement claiming they did not promise to issue vouchers and that “The University, based on confirmation by the SRC, had asked that critical services staff be allowed to do their work and to provide critical services to students, including food and catering…”.
Image provided by author.
It became what seems like a blame game of who is at fault for hundreds of students going without food for hours. The students not being fed for hours was heartbreaking. All students living in res accommodations were ‘punished’ for lack of a better word, whether they attended the protest or not. In addition, those who did attend the protest were rightful in doing so, given what they were shutting down the university for.
Although some students could make provisions to find food, so many other students without the same advantages or privileges had to survive on bread and fruit for 24 hours. These were provisions made by some wardens at residences who had to use their own finances to feed students and not from the school itself.
Fortunately, on 9 May, after another day of tedious protesting, not only for what was initially the cause of the protest but for food as well, vouchers were granted to students who were able to receive food. This was a miserable situation for students, with no one willing to take accountability for hundreds of starving students for 24 hours. To this day, the question remains as to who is to blame for this situation.
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