Students sleeping outside Cape Town’s CPUT campus ‘failed to meet accommodation requirements’

18 Mar 2025

Students sleeping on the streets of Cape Town’s District Six outside the Cape Peninsula University of Technology campus are ‘no longer prioritised’ by the institution.

The Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town (CPUT) was one of many universities that had protests over access to student accommodation at the start of the 2025 academic year.

Last month, more than 100 students slept outside the campus, waiting for the university housing department to place them in accommodation. Students protested during the State of the Nation address, prompting police to monitor the situation. CPUT did manage to place some students and temporarily housed others.

Read more: Students sleep in streets as Cape Peninsula University of Technology faces housing crisis

However, a few students have been sleeping outside CPUT’s campus for almost a week, demanding that the institution help them, despite most not meeting accommodation requirements.

The institution maintains that these students are ineligible and should seek alternative housing.

To qualify for accommodation, students must have a 60% pass rate in the subjects for which examinations were written, they must have applied for accommodation the previous year and there is no serious disciplinary record against them.

‘They are not eligible for residence’

Daily Maverick spoke to CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley who acknowledged that the unaccommodated students were sleeping outside campus. She said that between six and 10 students had been told that they were ineligible for residence.

“CPUT has housed them temporarily on a number of occasions with the explicit understanding that this was temporary, and that we were assisting in a short-term capacity to give them a chance to source accommodation.

“These are senior students who are either not progressing academically, have disciplinary issues, have exceeded the maximum amount of years of study etc… The institution has been extremely empathetic to their plight and assisted where we could, but we are no longer in a position to do so,” said Kansley.

The students were placed in temporary accommodation after an oversight visit by the Minister of Higher Education Nobuhle Nkabane. After some time, they were moved to CPUT’s Catsville residence in Salt River, where they slept in a media centre. Eventually, CPUT could no longer house them and they were told to leave.

Daily Maverick visited the campus and spoke to three students who slept under a tree in front of the campus. They were sharing a meal from a small lunchbox in Hanover Street, surrounded by their luggage and blankets.

Eligibility issues

The students, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Daily Maverick that they had issues with qualifying for accommodation after not meeting the required 60% pass rate.

A student told Daily Maverick that her appeal had been approved, but she was told by the institution that even though the appeal had been successful, there were no guarantees.

“I failed a module and I did not qualify for the 60% for the residence so I appealed and they responded, saying my appeal was approved … however they said that there are no guarantees for accommodation,” said the student.

The second student said: “For us students that appealed, we were told that there is nothing that can be done because residences are full and we will have to see for ourselves. This is affecting us because we cannot study, you just simply go and write without studying. This will result in us failing … but deregistering is not an option,” said one student.

Meanwhile, the third student said that incorrect marking had resulted in her not achieving the required 60% pass rate.

“They inserted the wrong marks last year and these marks were updated yesterday. When I used to go to the (CPUT) housing (department) they would tell me that my marks needed to be updated or the HOD must send an email, so now when I went to housing, I told them the email had been updated, but still I am sitting outside,” said the student.

What’s next?

According to Kansley, the main priority was accommodating students who met the requirements.

“This persistent group has also tried to disrupt shuttles and the movements of bona fide students in an attempt to force CPUT to house them. We can not allow that to happen, and while they are eligible to study, they will need to find their own accommodation. Our focus remains on eligible students who meet the requirements,” said Kansley. DM

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South Africa

‘They are not eligible for residence’

Eligibility issues

What’s next?