The DA calls on the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Council, with the help of the Department of Higher Education and Training, to decisively to stamp out corruption at its residences.
During the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee visit to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), on Wednesday last week, Acting Vice-Chancellor Dr Chris Nhlapo said “the residence system is riddled with corruption from top to bottom”.
He also said that people with substantial vested interests in the corrupt system of “selling” rooms, gaining access to SRC funds for frequent parties and other alleged kinds of corruption were prepared to resort to violence to protect their turf. Both staff and students are allegedly involved in this corruption.
We commend Dr Nhlapo’s commitment to ending the corrupt system, but without a nationwide, multi-pronged approach, it will be hard to root this corruption out.
Corrupt practices in residences draw resources and attention away from the genuine grievances of students who often do not have proper accommodation.
Some universities struggle to wrest control of residences away from criminals who have taken them over.
The presence of corruption in university residences needs urgent forensic investigation at CPUT and other universities. The DA is determined to uncover these practices, and will fight to bring them to an end.