Press Statement and Notice to All Staff and Students
As we are all aware, the East London campus has experienced student protests and disruption of regular University activities which have caused frustration and distress among students and staff alike. The protests were sparked off by a set of demands that the students submitted to management in the form of a memorandum four weeks ago.
In its several meetings with the SRC, Management sympathized and understood the frustration of students on some of their demands and has demonstrated commitment in addressing them.On 3 April 2017, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu and the Management Team convened a mass meeting which was attended by both staff and students. This meeting brought relief to the entire university community as Management demonstrated commitment and a clear plan to address almost all the students’ demands.
In its quest to resolve this matter soon, on the 4 April 2017 Management asked Professor Larry Obi to facilitate further engagements with the SRC to attend to all outstanding issues. This meeting culminated in the students resolving to go back to classes. Subsequently, on the 5 April 2017 in a Students’ Mass Meeting convened by the East London Campus SRC chaired by the Institutional SRC President Mr. Luxolo Nqala, students overwhelmingly resolved to return back to classes on Thursday, 6 April 2017.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs Professor Larry Obi will now meet with all the Deans of Faculties to develop a Catch Up Plan for the time lost. Professor Larry Obi kindly appeals to all academics to allow students to settle for the first week before outstanding assessments are considered.
All staff and academics are kindly requested to be at all the lecture halls and offices for academic programs to resume as normal.
On behalf of the Vice Chancellor and Management I wish to express a sincere apology to all staff and students who might have been severely affected by this impasse over the past four weeks.
Kind regards
Lizo Phiti (Mr),
Acting Director: Institutional Advancement
University of Fort Hare