Communities around the Vhembe FET College community, who had thought that all would be normal after the recent appointment of a new CEO and deputy, are in for a big disappointment.

The college, which was characterised by strikes by students and staff last year, who demanded the removal of the acting CEO, Dr JG Tshifularo, was at it again last week.

Hundreds of students, led by the college SRC, last Thursday held a peaceful march in protest against how things are being run at the college. Accompanied by the police, the students marched from the Makwarela campus to the college's head office in Sibasa, where they handed over a memorandum detailing their grievances, chief among them being the immediate removal of the new CEO and his deputy.

The students say that the Department of Higher Education does not appear to be prepared to solve the problems faced by the college. College SRC president Mr Rendani Nematswerani says they feel like they are a dumping ground for staff who have been fired elsewhere on serious charges being deployed at their campus.

The students demand that the new CEO, Lukau Mamabolo, must leave the college, together with his deputy, Ms Basani Hlekani.

Nematswerani says the new CEO and his deputy does not have a good track record with their former employers. According to Nematswerani, Mamabolo is not experienced in a senior position and he was fired six months into his previous position for poor management at the campus he was working at. “Mamabolo was working at the Mopani FET College as campus manager. The department gives us such a person. We really feel like the department doesn’t take our college seriously,” he says.

Nematswerani says that the hiring of the new CEO has caused division in the college as Mamabolo reversed all the decisions made by the SRC without communicating with them. He adds that the deputy CEO, Basani Hlekani, is said to have been charged with misconduct and resigned before disciplinary measures could be taken against her. “The SRC has a letter from the college to prove our claim and we need the department to do something about this,” he adds.

In their memorandum, the students say that the department disrupts their institution through unions and that the college information circulates from the department to the unions before it reaches the college management.

Nematswerani says that as the SRC they have already written two letters to the Minister but received no response.

The Department of Higher Education’s curriculum manager at the regional office in Polokwane, Mr George Ngobeni, received the memorandum on behalf of the department and promised that it would be sent to the Minister.