SRC lobbies Parly to save crisis-ridden Fort Hare University

Residences are ‘uninhabitable’ and unsafe

- By Setumo Stone

The University of Fort Hare (UFH), once a beacon of academic excellence, is now grappling with what its student representative council (SRC) president, Aphelele Khalakahla, describes as an “observable institutional collapse”.

In a scathing letter to Tebogo Letsie, chairperson of the portfolio committee on higher education in parliament, dated August 13, Khalakahla paints a grim picture of a university plagued by governance failures, financial mismanagement and a decaying infrastructure.

He proposed a series of urgent interventions to address the crisis, warning that failure to act could lead to intensified student unrest and irreparable reputational damage.

The grievances outlined in the letter are staggering. Residences are described as “uninhabitable”, with students forced to endure “persistent sewage spills, asbestos pipes, and broken infrastructure”. The university's failure to pay electricity and water bills on time recently left students without basic services for an entire day.

“Students are forced into unsafe, undignified living and learning conditions,” Khalakahla wrote, adding that these issues have severely compromised the institution’s academic reputation.