By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
Business is booming at the University of Namibia (Unam) where some students are cashing in on the perennial accommodation shortage by leasing out rooms to other desperate students at exorbitant fees.
Accommodation for students at the university remains critical 15 years after its inception and there are no immediate long-term plans to remedy the situation.
New Era spoke to students renting out rooms allocated to them and those who pay hefty rentals. Both confirmed the practice.
The students profiting from this practice are mainly those who are bursary holders, who would rather stay with relatives while indulging in a side-business of renting out rooms.
An education third-year student confessed in an interview that he leases out his room to a first-year student. The student agreed to the interview, on condition that his identity is withheld lest there are repercussions from the institution.
New Era’s investigation ascertained those renting out rooms allocated to them are Namibian bursary holders, who would rather stay with relatives and collect N$4 500 at the beginning of each semester and spend the money on luxury items.
One bursary holder said, “The money helps me to buy other items I need.”
Foreign students are especially feeling the pinch as locals, who are likely to have relatives in the capital, rent out their rooms for as high as N$6 000 per semester.
Female students are reported to find this business even more lucrative. “They stay with their boyfriends outside campus and rent out their rooms,” New Era’s source revealed.
Accommodation fees for SADC students are N$8 330 per annum while non-SADC students must cough up N$14 830 per year.
Both the students who are subletting rooms and those occupying rooms at a fee are unlikely to speak openly about the practice because they all stand to lose should the university know their identity.
Unam’s Public Relations Officer Utaara Hoveka said the university was not aware of any students subletting rooms to others.
“Unam’s position is clear on this, no student is allowed to sublet his/her room to any other person,” he stressed.
According to Hoveka, the institution views these allegations as serious and urged students to report such irregularities.
He warned that the university would take stern action against such culprits.
“They will be brought to a disciplinary hearing, which can result in them losing their rooms,” he warned.
While the university this year received about 5 000 student accommodation applications, the institution only has capacity to shelter a maximum of 1 080 students.
Every year, Unam can only take in about 400 new students in its hostels, with the rest being those who were already occupying hostels the previous year.
Students who come from faraway places and who do not have friends or relatives in the Khomas Region are usually given accommodation preference.
Recently, University of Namibia Vice-Chancellor Lazarus Hangula and Khomas Regional Governor Sophia Shaningwa made an appeal to a Chinese delegation from Hebei province that was in the country to consider building a student village at the university.
Hangula told the delegation that most students at the university hail from faraway places within and beyond the country. Because most of them do not have relatives who can provide alternative accommodation, there is a dire need to find alternative accommodation for them.
“We have a big problem in terms of accommodation. The university has huge land for development and we are appealing to the delegation to take this opportunity to build hostels,” said the vice-chancellor.
China has been assisting the university during its 15 years of existence. Help has mostly been in the areas of establishing and strengthening the faculty of science.
Shaningwa said at the time: “It is therefore important to have a student village that will cater for the needy ones at a reasonable price to afford them shelter during their stay at the tertiary institution.”