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WILLIAM PITCHER COLLEGE CLOSED AS STUDENTS RIOT

18/02/2020 02:23:00 BY KWANELE SIBIYA

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MANZINI – Police had to be roped in after tempers flared at William Pitcher College as students instigated a riot which saw the college closing indefinitely after fires were ignited within the premises.

This comes after first-year students at the college engaged in a protest following that they have not received their monthly allowances since they commenced their studies during the month of August last year.
This drama unfolded yesterday at around 11am.

The students sang struggle songs and demonstrated around the premises of the institution and ignited fires within the corridors of the college, which threatened to burn down the whole institution.

Allowances

As a result, police had to intervene to calm the situation and after that, the college was closed with immediate effect.
Information gathered from a well-placed source was to the effect that the grievances of the first-year students emanated from that they had not received their personal allowances, including their book fee allowances since August last year.

According to the source, in retaliation to their plight, the students initiated a class boycott last Thursday.
The source pointed out that the reason why the students resolved to boycott classes was because they could no longer cope with the hardships they were facing at the institution.

As part of their boycott, they demaded the urgent payment of their allowances.
The source said what added fuel to the fire was the fact that all first-year students from various tertiary institutions around the country that were sponsored by government had received their allowances.

“Even though the students from other tertiary institutions were not all paid at once, but after a certain period of time, they were all paid their allowances,” said the source.
The source further stated that given the fact that all the first-year students had been paid their allowances, the students felt as though William Pitcher College was the only institution that was left behind.

This, he said, made their parents question the students’ honesty whenever they asked for money from them.
Some parents flatly refused to give them the money while pointing out that they had received their allowances from government.

Irregularities

“Their parents just refuse to help them with money citing that they heard the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Thulani Mkhaliphi, announcing on national radio that all first-year students around the country’s institutions have been fully paid their allowances,” said the source.

The source further highlighted that given that the parents of the students refused to render them financial assistance, some of them ended up running short of money to pay rent, buy food as well as to cater for transportation fees, among other necessities.

“Given the aforementioned irregularities, the first-year students boycotted classes on Thursday and engaged in a protest,” said the source.
According to the source, the student representative council (SRC) then intervened and reasoned with the students to refrain from the boycott and instead, they organised a meeting with the then Acting Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Norman Gamedze, which was scheduled for last Friday at around 9am. It was gathered from the source that after the SRC’s intervention, the students complied with their (SRC) directive and resumed their studies, however, they argued that if nothing positive came up from the Friday meeting, they would continue with their boycott.

Agreement

Information gathered was that the meeting indeed took place last Friday between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the SRC as scheduled, however, during the meeting it transpired that both parties failed to reach common ground.

This was said to have been due to the fact that the SRC was informed by the ministry that they had to liaise with their bursar at the college with regard to the payment of the allowances given the fact that according to their knowledge, the ministry had disbursed all first year students’ allowances at the college.
The SRC was said to have then delivered the report to the students yesterday, who did not take kindly to the update and instead resorted to engaging in another protest which has seen the college closing with immediate effect.

According to the source, before the institution was closed, the students were informed that they would be updated through the media on when classes would resume at the tertiary institution.
The Principal of William Pitcher College, Philemon Gumedze, confirmed that indeed the institution had been closed indefinitely.

However, he declined to elaborate on the circumstances leading to the closure of the college, stating that he preferred to withhold his comment for now given that they were still engaging with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in a bid to rectify the situation.

The then Acting Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, whose substantive position is that of Under Secretary Gamedze, confirmed that the meeting with the students took place last Friday. However, he said the meeting was stalled due to the fact that the students did not come with their bursar.

He said they informed the students who were in the company of their dean of students affairs that the meeting could not proceed without the presence of the institution’s bursar.

This, he said, was because according to their records, they had disbursed all first-year students’ allowances at William Pitcher College except for only two students who encountered some glitches and the only person who could testify to that effect was the bursar.
Gamedze said the students then informed him that the bursar was far away and, as result, they arranged for another meeting today whereby they would come with their bursar.

“I am surprised that the students have resorted to engaging in a protest because we reached a mutual agreement that we would resolve the matter once they get hold of their bursar in a meeting that was scheduled for Tuesday (today),” Gamedze said.