UNISWA STUDENTS PLAN TO SABOTAGE GRAD PREPS IF....

MBABANE – Like a football team enjoying home ground advantage, UNISWA students plan to use this week to their advantage to get their allowances.

UNISWA is the acronym for the University of Swaziland. This came after students indicated that they would not take their cheques from the bursar’s office until all students received their payments. They stated that the cheques might as well be sent back to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, as they felt it was using a divide and conquer strategy by paying some and leaving out others. They stated that this was the same resolution taken by students at the Luyengo Campus. In a meeting held yesterday at the Mbabane Campus, the students resolved to use the graduation week to their advantage and further sabotage preparations should their demands not be met. This follows that the students were not given their project allowances, while others did not receive a dime of their money. Laying out their plan, the students said they would today converge at their main campus, Kwaluseni, where they would enquire about their funds. They stated that they would invite students from the Luyengo Campus to join them so they have strength in numbers. They clarified that they would not vandalise any property but only wanted the university and government to know that they would not back down until they got what was theirs.

Since the Student Representative Council was dissolved by the university, the students have no access to SRC funds and as a result, they cannot hire buses to Kwaluseni. Like people on a mission, they resolved to make contributions from their own pockets to fund transportation fees today. Those who had friends at the main campus were encouraged to sleep over with their friends to avoid having transport issues today. As the countdown to graduation builds up, the university might find itself with a lot on its plate, especially in getting students to be of assistance. During the annual event, the university usually asks students to volunteer to be ushers while others join the choral choir. This might not be the case this year as students mobilised each other not to volunteer or take part in any activities during the graduation. “If they respect the esteemed guests who will be in attendance, they will give us what is due to us,” they said.
Outgoing Mbabane Campus Chairperson Melusi Matsabatsa, blamed the university for some students not getting scholarships. Matsabatsa narrated that students doing Community Health would not get scholarship loans this academic year because the university was late to invoice the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. “As we speak, the students have not signed scholarship agreements with the ministry and when we enquired about this, we were told that they would be considered next year as this year’s budget has already been exhausted,” he said.

Matsabatsa added that the university was to blame as some of the students had to dropout because they did not have funds to pay tuition. Others, he said resolved to pay from their own pockets.
 The students who seemed determined to see this struggle through, vowed that there would be no lectures today. They in fact warned class representatives to tell lecturers not to set foot in lecture rooms as they would not find anyone. They warned those who would wake up today and go to class that they would not have peace as they would be disturbed. Some students held a different view, they pleaded with the electoral committee to write a letter to the administration and inform it that they wanted to be sent home.

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