2017-06-01Staff Report 2 Nuusita Ashipala Ongwediva Three University of Namibia (Unam) Student Representative Council (SRC) leaders who were given an opportunity yesterday to provide reasons that they not be suspended have asked for an extension until today. Unam gave an ultimatum to the three to provide reasons that they not be suspended from their leadership positions or to be barred from its campus, said its spokesperson Simon Namesho. The three exclude the SRC president Joseph Kalimbwe who has been instructed to remove all his belongings from the campus after it emerged he is not a registered student for the 2017 academic year. Kalimbwe, who is said to have only been a student until last year, was further instructed to return any of the university’s property in his possession to the dean of students and to desist from using the SRC president title. He is further asked not to set foot on a Unam campus under his current circumstances. “Upon this discovery, and despite several afforded attempts, Mr Kalimbwe has failed to provide any proof he is a registered student at Unam. As a result, Mr Kalimbwe is not a first year student as alleged on social media. Therefore he has misrepresented himself as student of Unam,” said Namesho. Kalimbwe contested the SRC president position while he was still a student last year, but had applied for a master’s programme in public administration for the 2017 academic year, which did not materialise. Unam’s decision to issues three of its students with notices of intent to expel comes after an alleged student break-in attempt at the university’s cafeteria, The Grub, on Saturday. Students claimed to want to use The Grub as a studying area, bemoaning a lack of studying space and that the library is not sufficient for the Unam population. Failure to comply with the university’s request will see the SRC leaders suspended pending the finalisation of the criminal case opened against them. They face a charge of malicious damage to property. 2017-06-01Staff Report 2
