Chaos at the DUT campus as Students protest for Slow Service Delivery

The Durban University of Technology’s Steve Biko campus erupted in chaos on Tuesday morning after a student protest disrupted classes.

DUT students were protesting a lack of service delivery from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme‚ complaining that many students still did not have access to accommodation even though they were receiving funding from NSFAS.

While the Student Representative Council were in talks with management in the morning‚ students were being forced from their classes by protesting students.

Jason Chapman‚ a quantity surveying student‚ said that he was forced from his lecture hall

“Our HOD [head of department] came running into the classroom incredibly flustered‚ she tells us to ‘get up and get to safety’. She was really frightened and you could see her shaking‚” Chapman said.

“As soon as we heard singing [from protesting students] a few of my classmates packed their sh*t up and left – they have clearly been through it before.

“Then about three or four people came into the classroom and kicked us out.

“There was a crowd of around 150 people that split themselves amongst the floors of the building‚ letting off fire extinguishers‚ turning over bins and threatening people.

“There was this one guy filming with his phone and a protesting student just took it [his phone] and threw it out of the window. When he protested‚ they said they would throw him out the window‚” said Chapman.

This comes after a student protest at the DUT Indumiso campus in Imbali‚ which closed the Pietermaritzburg campus for the week after problems with funding by NSFAS.