Scores of students held a “sleep-in” protest over four-to-a-room overcrowding at University of Fort Hare (UFH) residences on Thursday night.

They complained that students still paid R26000 a year for accommodation.

More than 100 UFH students‚ led by the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso)‚ filled the entrance to the campus and sang Struggle songs.

Democratic Alliance MP and shadow deputy minister of higher education and training Yusuf Cassim visited residences in East London this week.

“The conditions I witnessed were appalling. You find conditions where four students camped in one room. Yet each of the four students has been charged R26000. That is exploitation‚” he said.

He calculated that the university was raking in R7-million a year from student accommodation.

Accounting student Nokubonga Booi said: “We do not have a study area. I stay in a single room with three people‚ which means someone is getting four times the amount due.”

Daso SRC member Nyameko Veveza said: “Many students did not get residence accommodation even though the university knew that there would be more new students coming in.

“We demanded that management to decrease the fees‚ but they never did‚ so Daso is taking a stand.”

 UFH spokeswoman Zintle Filtane did not reply to calls for comment.