On Wednesday, the 25th of August 2021, University of Cape Town (UCT) residence students were notified in the late afternoon that their residence dining halls would be closing down for the evening. This news came before the designated supper collection period had begun, meaning that many students were unable to collect their dinner.
The message came abruptly and with very little forewarning.
Dining hall monitors opened a short slot for students to collect food before having to block entry to the dining halls. This action comes after an incident in which a student residing at Varietas Residence was reportedly robbed at knifepoint. Hence, the closing of dining hall facilities is speculated to be related to the protests surrounding this incident that have been headed up by the university’s Residence Council.
The robbery raised students’ concerns, especially regarding Campus Protection Services (CPS) who many believe have been performing their jobs poorly both prior to, and on the evening of the incident.
In light of these concerns, the Varietas Residence shared multiple posts on their social media on Monday, the 23rd of August requesting all residences to meet at Graca Lawns on UCT’s Lower Campus the following day.
The meeting was scheduled for twelve o’clock the next Tuesday afternoon, and according to the Varietas Residence’s social media, the meetup would be in support of their hashtag campaign that included hashtags that highlighted their safety concerns, such as: ‘#WeHaveHadEnough’, ‘#WeAreNotSafe’ and ‘#EmptyPromisesMustStop’.
Shortly after the scheduling of this meetup, came the protests and subsequently, the closing down of residence dining halls.
That Wednesday afternoon, when the news had broken out about the situation, emergency vouchers were issued for residence students to be able to cater for themselves on the Thursday following the closing of all dining halls.
For the second time this year, that Thursday saw hundreds of catering student residents lined up for hours in the rain, waiting to purchase food from the select establishments that accepted emergency vouchers.
In an email shared by the UCT Student Representative Council (SRC) later that Thursday, they echoed their support of the demands made by the Residence Council, and went on to share concern over the quality of the food being served at these residences.
However, it was also shared in the same email that some resolutions were being made, with the SRC saying:
We have been meeting with the Residence Council, Campus Protection Services (CPS), Student Housing and, this morning, with the Executive in order to address these concerns. While some measures have already been put in place to address safety concerns, the Executive has committed to a written response to all demands by end of the day tomorrow.
As of Friday, the 27th of August, despite the dining halls seemingly having reopened for the day, recent emails have seemed to indicate that from Saturday, the 28th of August to Monday, the 6th of September, dining halls will be closed once again.
