Pretoria - Protesting students at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) residence, Muzinda, blocked the entrance to the residence in Pretoria West over a lack of electricity and water.
Students' Representative Council (SRC) member, Keamogetswe Masike, met with the adviser of the vice-chancellor for solutions at the residence in a lengthy meeting.
"All operations are still closed at Muzinda, the university is still not responding to the grievances that the students have now escalated to the office that is responsible.
"Firstly there is no electricity and there is no proper functioning water that is consistent in the residence.
"Many of the students are now writing exams and are compelled to study with candles," said Masike.
Masike said many of the students came from rural communities and came to the university for greener pastures.
This was not the first time the residence experienced such challenges.
Masike said: "This happens in almost all accredited residences of the institution.
"This is the first residence that we had to come and deal with, but rest assured that many of the residences subject our students to such conditions."
Masike said they had videos and pictures that have been escalated to the SRC and warned service providers to comply.
A student at the residence said: "Not having electricity is an inconvenience for us as students, our food in the fridges gets spoiled. We cannot afford to buy groceries twice a month, we only get R1 500 per month.
"Another problem we encounter when not having electricity is that we are unable to submit our assignments on time. You can go to campus at around 7am and when you come back here there is no electricity, so we cannot do our school work properly.
"When it comes to the issue of water, it is the winter season and it is freezing cold. We cannot use cold water to bath everyday."
The student said they have had the issues for two months and were tired of closing the entrance to the residence since the management failed to resolve the issues.
"Today we closed down the buses, they are not going to campus because if we allow these buses to operate the management will not listen to our problems.
"We know that they will respond now that we have closed down the buses inside the residence.
The student said two weeks does not pass by without the residence not having water or electricity.
Pretoria News