UCT’s RMF movement remains firm on its housing allocation stance

Siphelo Bayana

17 February 2016

Yesterday, University of Cape Town’s Rhodes Must Fall Movement staged in front of the Jameson stairs where they were protesting for alleged lack of accommodation for their fellow black students. 

In one of the interviews Bush Radio Correspondent, Siphelo Bayana conducted, one of the students said “We are gathered here because the University is exploiting black students and directly removing them from the residences and accommodating foreign national’s students and white students only”.

Bayana spoke to the students of UCT who are also allocated to residence houses, however some expressed they are living in fear because they do not know how long they will be allowed to stay in the residence because of their financial exclusion and that decision is up to the University Counsel.

He says “They claim that the issue they are dealing with is poor service of administration and it’s been happening for at least 5-years.

He adds that “What happens is when a student applies to enrol at UCT they apply for residence accommodation as well and they receive confirmation that they have secured a place in the residence, when they get into UCT what they are not told is that there has been an over allocation of rooms which means if for an example the residence can accommodate 200 students and the Housing Department allocates 300 students to the residence, then it becomes an issue of first come first serve”.

He continued that “They put students in one big room where many bags and belongings are stashed into that small space as far as possible and you are expected to stay in a hall with other students you don’t even know and there is no privacy at all for the duration of this housing crisis.

This then means you are homeless because UCT does not consider black students, the reality is they make sure that whites and foreigners live much comfortable than actual black South Africans.”

“White students come to live in residences just for the fun of it for the experience and black students come to the residences because they have no means of living where they want to, they come with a hungry interest of learning, they come to res for survival” one student concluded