Windhoek
The dust refuses to settle between the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) management and the student representative council (SRC), whose leaders yesterday boycotted the annual official opening for the 2016 academic year.
This new development comes days after the recent student protest at NUST led by the Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) over registration fees and writing off of student debts.
SRC members claim NUST vice-chancellor, Professor Tjama Tjivukua, initially deliberately removed them from the programme of yesterday’s opening, where they expected to address the gathering as is traditionally done.
The omission of SRC members from the agenda and their boycott of the event counted against deputy minister of higher education Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo’s plans to address them on the issue of student demands.
The deputy minister, who was invited to the event as the guest speaker, started seeking answers from NUST management, including Tjivikua, on the whereabouts of the student leaders, a query to which she received no answer.
The deputy dean of students, Frieda Shimbuli, was the only official who stood up, and seemingly in a panic mode started making phone calls to student leaders who refused to pitch up.
Ndjoze-Ojo then decided to give management about 15 minutes to see that SRC members were present at the event. After no show by student leaders, the deputy minister went ahead with her address, attended mostly by first year students.
“It’s unfortunate that the start of the year at our universities was marked by student groups staging protests relating to registration fees and student debt,” she said.
“In future, it is important that such issues are constructively discussed through the proper available channels at universities and amicable solutions are found to address them appropriately.”
NUST SRC president Oscar Mwandingi told New Era in an interview that they decided to boycott the academic opening because Tjivikua initially scrapped them from the programme to avoid their addressing fellow students.
Mwandingi alleges that the ‘victimisation’ started immediately after their demonstration over the registration fees and writing off of student debt.
“We normally used to go eat in the dining hall since we were also helping the students with registration. But the next day after the protest, which was a Friday, we were banned from eating there,” he alleged.
“Then the next incident was the opening of the academic staff meeting, which was last week. None of us (SRC members) were invited to that meeting. Now it’s the academic opening and we were put on the programme together with Dr [Andrew] Niikondo who was due to address the students. We were supposed to give a vote of thanks. But when the programme went to Tjivikua for approval, he removed our names,” Mwandingi charged.
Niikondo, the deputy vice-chancellor for research and academic affairs at NUST, denied claims that he was due to address the meeting.
Tjivikua yesterday said invitations to the university’s public events or activities are normally extended to all members of the university community – faculty, staff, and students, including the SRC.
He explained that all invited speakers participated and delivered enriching motivational lessons.
“Dr Andrew Niikondo and the SRC were not on the programme because they were not invited by the proponent to deliver speeches at any stage; thus they were not ‘removed’ from the programme,” he said.
“The event was attended by all stakeholders, except the SRC members. The SRC has not been on every activity programme, but is invited from time to time as the case may be and as is with other stakeholders.”
“It is unfortunate that they demand a specific invitation to the academic opening, which has not been the case in the past,” he said.
“The programme is devised and managed by the proponent of an event. Only when such consultations are completed is a programme printed,” Tjivikua maintained.
He said the academic opening programme for this year was crafted to project views and experiences from a freshman student, an alumnus, and international and Namibian academics, the latter two in science and technology, taking gender balance into consideration.
Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation Dr Itah Kandjii-Murangi said she found it strange that the SRC was invited to address fellow students as done yearly at universities.
NUST has registered about 11 200 students thus far, excluding those at the external centres countrywide. The registration process ends tomorrow.