Desperate students who were left stranded with their suitcases and blankets sleeping in halls at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s (CPUT), have been placed at residences while some are still waiting.
Last week, videos of students sleeping in a sports hall with their belongings strewn across the hall, circulated on different social media platforms.
It is believed that students have been squatting in the halls for over two weeks.
On Wednesday, IOL spoke to the university’s spokesperson, Lauren Kansley, who admitted that the institution was overwhelmed with an influx of applicants who walk in without applying or arrive late with no housing confirmed.
She said the institution has at least 36,000 students and they had to deal with 1,000 walk-in applicants who needed placing.
“An application or acceptance to study does not mean that you automatically get a residence space. Despite these challenges, our housing staff has been working around the clock and we have placed at least 100 walk-ins who were eligible for residence.
“We do this late into the night and early in the morning to see if we can bring the demand down,’’ she said.
Regarding students who have been squatting in the sports hall in Bellville and District Six campus, Kansley said they did an audit to determine which students are not eligible for a place in residence.
She added that accommodation was always done by CPUT until National Student Financial Aid Scheme decided to take over, but on Wednesday, NSFAS decided to relinquish the pilot project back to the institution.
“Essentially it means that unaccredited private accommodation and the allocation of places into that to NSFAS qualifying applicants will now become a CPUT responsibility.
“We are optimistic that this positive development will smooth the process of accommodating these remaining unplaced applicants. We have opened the application window today (Wednesday) and applicants have till March 2 when it closes,’’ she said.
To mitigate the impact, the institution added 2000 beds for the 2024 academic year, however, Kansley said the supply can never fully meet the demand.
Meanwhile, newly founded political party, Rise Mzansi, has called upon the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, to provide solutions to the housing crisis facing institutions across the country.
“Rise Mzansi will continue to work with students to ensure that authorities maintain transparent and forthright communication with all students and stakeholders, while also delivering quality services to safeguard and support students facing difficulties,” the party said in a statement.
IOL News