Damage amounting to thousand of rands was reported when the student cafeteria at the University of Venda was gutted and the kitchen severely damaged by fire on Monday evening.

According to the general manager of Imperial Foods, Mr Colin Chetty, a company tasked with providing food to students and manning the student cafeteria at Univen, the staff left the kitchen at 19:30 on Monday evening. "I had not gone very far from the campus when I received a call informing me of a fire. I rushed back to the café, only to find the roof of the building collapsing," he said. He said he called the police and fire brigade, only to find that they were already at the scene.

They battled but could not contain it as extensive damage was caused to the roof and, according to Chetty, it will take more than two months to repair it. He said he could not speculate on the cause of the fire as a police forensic unit was still combing the scene for clues. "What baffles me is the fact that all the electrical equipment was off and indications are that the fire started at the roof," he said.

Workers and students at the University of Venda who have been wondering what will become of them need not panic. Chetty promised that no one will lose their job or have their pay cut while repairs are being done to the building. He also assured students that service will not be interrupted, as they have contingency plans to deal with any possible event. The workers had kept vigil at the gutted cafeteria’s entrance, pondering as to what would happen to them. About 40 people are employed at the cafeteria.

As one of his contingency plans, Chetty said he would be meeting the university management and the student leadership, but hopefully students would utilize the Riverside cafeteria and the SRC tuck shop during the time that the main cafeteria would be repaired.

Mr Terrence Kuaho, the SRC president, said he was satisfied that students will not be affected severely. "We will see how far we can assist our students. If there is a need, we will be forced to outsource services in order that our student’s needs are not compromised," he said. He said they would meet the university management so that a speedy solution to the problem was found.

By Tuesday morning, students were still milling around the cafeteria, not knowing where to go for food and other needs. Ndivhuho Muthivhi, spokesperson of the ANCYL on campus, was not impressed. "Look, our students are starving here. They have had no meal since the morning as they do not have money. Most of them have only cards that are only used here at the cafeteria and cannot be used anywhere else," he said. Muthivhi urged the authorities to speed up measures to assist the students.