On April 15, the students of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University took to the institution’s gates, demanding to be heard. The students, led by the school representative councillors, held a peaceful demonstration seeking answers from the institution about the current state of most students’ residences, including infrastructure, excessively high rent, poor WI-FI, and, most concerning, the poor water system.
The students of SMU have been disrupted by the water outage at their institution and residence, and are not attending classes to the fullest due to the crisis on campus. Other on-campus accommodations are also without water.
According to a concerned student, “they told us that they do not know the solution to the water problem because they do not have the map of the water pipeline. Two weeks ago, they said we had to leave the residences so they could fix the problem for the whole week. The only thing they did was bring us mobile toilets,” said Zethembe Khenyana.
Among the issues of concern to students were water, students failing to attend classes, Infrastructure and maintenance, NSFAS allowances, and fees at the student residence called “Two Thousand Beds. cafeteria price adjustments, and Policies due for review. These were some of the demands outlined in the SRC memorandum of SMU students.
The students were determined not to move their protest until they were addressed and heard by the institution, saying they began on April 14 and will continue until their issues are addressed by the management.
View the videos of the protest:
The President of the SRC at SMU, Mthokozisi Dlamini, stated that “it is a very peaceful protest, just that the comrades are defending their dignity as the entire student body. We have been having problems with water, and other issues that are here on campus, but the major one has been water,” said the president of the SRC.
The protest started at 7 am, with police present to ensure no property damage or an uncontrollable protest. That did not last long as police grew impatient and gave the students a ten-minute window to disperse their protest. After failing to do so, the peaceful protest unexpectedly turned to a violent protest and ended with the police firing rubber bullets, teargas, and water trucks at the students. The students responded by throwing rocks at the police in a form of self-defence.
During the protest, about five students were arrested by the police to control the situation. This led the SRC members to calm the upset students and to speak with the police to request the release of the arrested students.
“At Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University we have experienced a long period of water outage, it once happened about two weeks ago that we did not have water for like three times a week, and the last responses from the management with the latest response is that they don’t know what the problem is and they don’t know how long do they need to fix that problem” Mthokozisi Dlamini added.
The SMU students were determined to continue their protest even after their leaders calmed them down. Willing to fight another day until their voices were heard, the determined students of SMU believe it is within their rights to demonstrate on matters of water outages, infrastructure, and maintenance as students.
These are fundamental for them to complete their education and partake in other curricula; without water, they are unable to attend class like off-campus students, and others miss their practicals at the hospital.
The students dispersed, but they said that if no changes are made, it’ll mean another protest until management resolves their issues.
