STUDENTS at the University of Venda in Limpopo have barricaded the streets leading to the institution and say they will continue to do so until their demands are met.
They are protesting against the management for increasing application and registration fees.
They are also demanding that the university vice-chancellor, Peter Amunga Mbati, speak to them.
"This is not war. All we want is that management engage with us on issues that involve us," secretary for the student's representative assembly, Sithembiso Mdaka, said yesterday.
At the centre of the controversy are increased fees for late application from R190 to R500 and registration from R4560 to R5140 without the increase first being communicated to the student body.
Students also accuse management of introducing a policy that seeks to forbid students who fail a course for two years from registering to repeat the same course for a third year.
Matters came to a head when management wanted to make the policy applicable to second- and third-year students.
"It is wrong for the university to want to make this a law for all the students this year.
"This is like forcing us to drop out because most of our courses have a three-year duration," Mdaka said.
"We have currently stopped the registrations at the university. We want management to talk to us because if they do not do so we will continue to protest," he said.
University spokesman Takalani Dzaga confirmed the protest and said management was waiting for a formal submissions from the students about their plight.
"It is true that we have increased the fees this year as contained in the fee document of the university. Our submission is that whoever makes applications after the October deadline must pay R500 instead of R190," Dzaga said yesterday.
Dzaga said management was ready to respond to issues raised by the student's body as soon as they submit their memorandum of grievances.
"We are not hiding anything, we are here to serve them,' Dzaga said.
Students protest against high fees
STUDENTS at the University of Venda in Limpopo have barricaded the streets leading to the institution and say they will continue to do so until their demands are met.
They are protesting against the management for increasing application and registration fees.
They are also demanding that the university vice-chancellor, Peter Amunga Mbati, speak to them.
"This is not war. All we want is that management engage with us on issues that involve us," secretary for the student's representative assembly, Sithembiso Mdaka, said yesterday.
At the centre of the controversy are increased fees for late application from R190 to R500 and registration from R4560 to R5140 without the increase first being communicated to the student body.
Students also accuse management of introducing a policy that seeks to forbid students who fail a course for two years from registering to repeat the same course for a third year.
Matters came to a head when management wanted to make the policy applicable to second- and third-year students.
"It is wrong for the university to want to make this a law for all the students this year.
"This is like forcing us to drop out because most of our courses have a three-year duration," Mdaka said.
"We have currently stopped the registrations at the university. We want management to talk to us because if they do not do so we will continue to protest," he said.
University spokesman Takalani Dzaga confirmed the protest and said management was waiting for a formal submissions from the students about their plight.
"It is true that we have increased the fees this year as contained in the fee document of the university. Our submission is that whoever makes applications after the October deadline must pay R500 instead of R190," Dzaga said yesterday.
Dzaga said management was ready to respond to issues raised by the student's body as soon as they submit their memorandum of grievances.
"We are not hiding anything, we are here to serve them,' Dzaga said.
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