IFP: Statement by Alfred Mpontshane, IFP Spokesperson on Education, supports R1.4-billion allocation to improve university infrastructure (07/03/2013)

7th March 2013

The IFP is pleased that the Department of Higher Education and Training has
allocated R1.4 billion to improve university infrastructure. Upgrades will
include university student residences especially at disadvantaged
universities such as Walter Sisulu University and University of Fort Hare in
the Eastern Cape where students currently live under extremely poor
conditions and have to share small rooms with a number of other students.

This funding should be made available immediately to universities so that
they may begin with their renovations. A portion of the funding should also
be used to provide universities with a student transport infrastructure as
this is currently a point of contention and one of the main issues of the
current student protest at  Mangosuthu University of Technology in Durban

The Department must endeavor to meet the needs of all students in order to
prevent this kind of disruptive action being taken by students on university
campuses.

The IFP urges the management at Mangosuthu University of Technology to
resolve this impasse with its students as a matter of urgency so that the
business of educating students may resume in earnest.