The Sunday News
Lungile Tshuma and Lackson Munkombwe Sunday News Reporters
LUPANE State University has reportedly employed bouncers to man campus entry points dotted around Bulawayo, a move designed to bar students who have not paid their dues from attending lectures.
The university first installed swiping machines where students who have not paid at least $350 were denied entry. After realising that students were forcing their entry into the higher learning institution, bouncers had to be employed to bar them from attending lectures.
Lecturers are also no longer taking assignments from students who have not registered.
A second year accounting student who is expected to pay $500 for fees said students are being denied access and payment plans without having paid the stipulated $350.
Another student said at the Raylton campus, bouncers are in place to police students who failed to register.
“There are bouncers at our campus and they are actively doing their job because we cannot attend lecturers. The university is aware that the economy is not in good shape but they are demanding that we pay large sums of money. For us to get the payment plan, they should at least demand that we pay half of our fees. Lecturers are also refusing to take our assignments, they are demanding that we produce our registration slips,” said the student.
LSU public relations officer Mr Zwelithini Dlamini said students do not want to request for payment plans but instead continue attending lectures without a possible agreement with the institution.
“We tell students to access payment plans from the bursars’ office but many of them have been attending classes without being registered,” said Mr Dlamini, adding: “It’s their fault that they do not want to follow simple and straight forward rules. We say a student can get a payment plan after paying at least $350 and will be able to register.”
“We do not have problems with students who have not yet paid for this semester. We have a flexible clause to which we can allow students to register even without having paid anything as long as they agree on a payment plan. However, some students have not completed payments of previous semester’s fees which is making it difficult for them to request for further payment plans for this semester.”
Government policy says students must be allowed to have lessons if they are registered students. Once one is registered, they then have a right to attend lectures.
Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Dr Godfrey Gandawa said his ministry was yet to be appraised on the matter. He, however, said it was not correct for institutions to bar registered students to attend lectures despite having fees arrears.
“It is not correct for lecturers to demand receipts before they hand over their assignments. Payment of fees is a prerogative of the administration and lecturers should just stick to their mandate which is teaching. I have directed one of our directors to look into the matter where bouncers have been hired to man the institution. If we find out that it’s true, we will act on that,” said Dr Gandawa.
