âThrowing students to the wolvesâ Parliament slams CPUT over evictions after protests

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Chairperson of the parliamentary committee on higher education Tebogo Letsie has criticised the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), which is at loggerheads with students after a shocking email demanded that students evacuate all university residences and return to their homes.

The student protest erupted after the university attempted to introduce a financial recovery plan, forcing postgraduate and unfunded students to pay an upfront R7,000 fee covering registration and accommodation.

CPUT subsequently withdrew the plan pending further explanation, clarification and thorough consultation with appropriate stakeholders, including student representatives. Students, however, have rejected this move, demanding an unconditional withdrawal of the plan.

Letsie told Daily Maverick that the protest could have been avoided if CPUT and students had sat down to discuss the financial plan.

ââFirstly, I think the process of our institutions, without consulting broadly, is a problem.â He said there would not have been a strike and buildings would not have been destroyed. âThe decisions by our institution are very expensive. It cost us a lot. They may have withdrawn it now, but at what cost? said Letsie.

He condemned the burning of infrastructure, saying that if students were involved in such activities, they should be treated as criminals.

Letsie said it was a risk to send away at short notice students who came from provinces across the country. ââ... if you remove them from res now, you are literally throwing them to the wolves... Itâs not something we agree with, and we are going to write a letter and send it to the institution,â said Letsie.

Students told to leave

A CPUT management newsflash sent the following email to students on Tuesday morning, 18 August 2026: âAll academic activities will cease with immediate effect while staff continue to work from home. Essential workers and selected support staff will be needed for operations on campus and will be communicated to through their line managers. All residences must be vacated within 24 hours (by Wednesday, 19 August at 4pm). All students are to leave by that date as residences will be closed.â

In less than three weeks, the protests have resulted in the burning of the Old Education building at the Bellville campus, malicious attacks on institutional infrastructure, and have forced university management to close all campuses until further notice. Speaking to Daily Maverick, CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley said the damages had hit over R1.5 million, and sending students home was the only play the university could make.

âI think that the evacuation of residents is one thing; protection of lives. We did it to completely de-escalate the violence immediately, said Kansley. âWe are not going to be agitating students at four oâclock and coming in with the red ants. Thatâs not whatâs going to happen. Weâve seen students willingly leave. We needed to create an environment where those who have the opportunity and can go home, know that they can,â said Kansley.

Unlike the 2023 evacuation plan, where students were left stranded at Bellville for hours waiting for buses to take them home, this time around the university said nothing about transportation.

âWeâve basically given permission for people to go, only understanding that the academic programme has halted... Mass mobilisations were problematic for us in terms of protecting infrastructure and lives. So, I think itâs calmed down, and itâs brought sanity to a bit of an insane situation, where there was a mob mentalityâ¦â said Kansley.

Speaking on the decision to withdraw the financial plan, Kansley said this would harm the universityâs finances. âCPUT has a student debt burden of R2.1-billion... One of the most heavily indebted institutions. To be really frank around the financial recovery plan. Itâs a normal thing. Every business would need to have some sort of financial plan. We need to do something. This was workshopped. This student leadership was part of workshops from April. They did not attend the necessary meetings that were happening,â said Kansley.

Students refuse to leave

Most students say they cannot leave while they reside outside the province and have no money. On Tuesday, students marched to Parliament to submit their list of demands, which was accepted by higher education committee chairperson Letsie.

Fourth-year information and technology student Lwazi Shozi told Daily Maverick, âItâs still the 18th. Most people, like parents, are getting paid on the 25th or month-end. So itâs truly unfair to say that students in a space of 24 hours go home like... I understand what they did is wrong. Iâm not justifying any actions made by the students, but at the same time, the institution has to take certain precautions,â said Shozi.

He calculated that leaving now would cost him immensely. ââIâm from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, so itâs over a thousand kilometres away. Flights, I did check them out. They cost a minimum of R1,100 to R1,300. Considering that I still have to Uber to the airport, thatâs another R200, plus food,â said Shozi.

Horticulture student Masixole Mpotulo, who resides in Belhar, said he could not leave. âIt was not fair for CPUT to tell us that we should evacuate within 24 hours because some of us donât live around Cape Town; we live far. For example, I live in the Eastern Cape, and I am an unfunded student, and thereâs no one at home, so me being told to evacuate within 24 hours is not fair,â said Mpotulo.

Meanwhile, the CPUT SRC president Liyabulela Gela told Daily Maverick that students should remain at their residences and not panic. ââYou canât just say people must vacate within 24 hours for their safety. You donât provide alternative accommodation and transportation. What then informs this? Who are we supposed to be safe from?â asked Gela. âSo I think it is quite unfair. Instead of making sure that people are safe, itâs causing more panic,â he said.

On the withdrawal of the financial plan, Gela said, ââFirstly, theyâve not withdrawn because they said they were withdrawing it for further consultation. âThat is a conditional withdrawal, and what we demanded was an unconditional withdrawal,â said Gela.

Meanwhile, Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela has requested a team from the University Education Branch to work with CPUT and facilitate urgent engagement between the university management, council and student leadership.

âThe immediate priority is to bring the parties around the table, establish the facts and find a way forward that allows the academic programme to resume. Students have a right to raise legitimate concerns about their access to higher education.

âThose concerns must be heard and addressed through constructive engagement. Equally, no student or staff member should have to fear for their safety or be prevented from exercising their right to study or work,â said Manamela.

âWe cannot allow an impasse to become a permanent disruption to the academic year. We need responsible leadership from all sides and a commitment to resolving these matters through dialogue rather than confrontation,â said the minister.

Currently, students have been seen at the Bellville campus, seated inside the university precinct, while police are believed to be on campus to guard against any chaos. DM

Reporting originally appeared via Daily Maverick. Read the full source for additional context.