By Odwa Bafana Mkentane
Responding to allegations made by institutions protesting students, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) spokesperson Lauren Kansley says the protest is about the SRC election period because the issues raised are conflated.
A group of CPUT students marched from CPUT District Six campus and through the Cape Town CBD and assembled students from various university residences along the way.
Students addressed various issues, including the continuing worsening conditions of university residences, the failure to adequately support residence development programmes, the withholding of academic transcripts and qualification certificates from affected graduates, and the proposed financial recovery plan for 2027.
“Look, if I had to be really frank, I think the protest is really about the SRC election period starting to be honest, because all of the issues that are being raised are really being conflated, and you know, a propaganda lens is being put onto it to make it seem as though these issues are really dire so we can go through them one by one. Let’s start with the certificates, for example. Every student who graduates from CPT will be allowed to graduate; that means they walk across the stage, and they receive a scroll. Inside that scroll, if you have paid your debt, you will receive your certificate. If you haven’t, you will receive an academic transcript. This academic transcript you can use to find work. So that is what thousands of people are doing, and they are able to then pay their debt back, “said Kansley.
Kansley further said he has refuted claims that CPUT residences are not maintained.
“CPUT has the largest residence footprint of probably any university in the country and every year when the last time we spoke, I’m pretty sure no, actually every year we know that CPU T has a residence crisis where people are just arriving in masses expecting to be placed in accommodation. The majority of those people actually have been placed in accommodation. But what they want is a CPUT owned and operated residence. They know that that is a place to be. So, for the student leaders to come on record and say that those residences are subpar is disingenuous because we spend millions to maintain it, “she said.
Photo: Wikimedia
