Africa-Press – South-Africa. There is a call for the University of Fort Hare to change its no-alcohol policy, and have pubs on its grounds, in order to protect students from off-campus violence.
The call was made by some students and academics – and, if they succeed, liquor will be sold for the first at the 107-year-old institution.
The university is renowned for producing African leaders like Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere and Robert Mugabe.
The call came on the sidelines of a march by over a hundred students, who want increased safety measures in the Alice town, which is home to the university.
The marchers took to the local police station and, later, to the mayor’s office to hand over a memorandum of demands.
The head of the philosophy department at the university, who is also the director for Gender-Based Violence Prevention Unit (GBVPU), Professor Rianna Oelofsen, said they would lobby the university for the construction of pubs.
“The Student Representative Council (SRC) has put out a statement, in which they ask that the university opens up a bar and a food court on campus in order to secure the safety of students, so that students can go to a place of entertainment, without leaving the safety of campus,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we still have a no-alcohol on campus policy in place at the university, but the GBVPU will certainly lobby for change in that policy to ensure that we start giving safe spaces for entertainment on campus for our students.”
For years, intoxicated students, walking back to campus from taverns and sheebeens, had become low-hanging fruit for ruthless street robbers.
SRC leader Nande Sohuma said broken streetlights had created a conducive environment for criminals to carry out their operations.
Speaking at the march, she said:
Sohuma said the bridge connecting the town and the campus needed attention from authorities as that was where many attacks occurred.
The University of Fort Hare said it had not received any formal submissions from students, via the SRC, for the construction of a pub.
“The university does not permit alcohol use on campus. We take note of the views shared by the interim director of the GBV unit, but no formal submission in this regard has been received,” said the university’s spokesperson, JP Roodt.
If it happens, it will be the first Eastern Cape university to have a pub on campus as Rhodes, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu Universities don’t have any.
Elsewhere in the country, the Universities of Cape Town, the Western Cape and Limpopo have campus pubs for students.
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