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Mbombela - Classes have ground to a halt at Mpumalanga's new university over old issues involving unpaid staff medical aids and pensions as well as bursary payments for students.
The two-pronged protest action took place at the University of Mpumalanga's (UMP) two campuses in Mbombela and Siyabuswa on Monday and Tuesday.
The National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) members in Mbombela complained about their pensions from the Lowveld Agricultural College, which was absorbed into UMP, while the South African Students Congress (Sasco) members in Siyabuswa complained that they were not given their Fundza Lushaka bursaries and stipends.
"Here there's no clear process and transparency, there was no good transition when the staff moved from the Lowveld Agricultural College to the University of Mpumalanga. Here we have our members who have worked for more than 30 years and there's already one who has moved out of the system and has no pension," said Nehawu provincial secretary Sizwe Motha.
Motha said no one at the university management has been able to provide them with answers.
He said the situation created anxiety among workers.
Sasco provincial chairperson Coli Dlamini said classes in Siyabuswa will remain suspended until their stipends have been paid.
"Students at Siyabuswa have not been paid their stipends for about ten months and decided to stop going to classes," said Dlamini.
UMP Vice Chancellor Professor Thoko Mayekiso said the university is not aware of any unpaid stipends.
"The students need the funds as their pocket money; we have since taken a decision [in the meantime] to pay the money from our funds,” said Mayekiso, adding that they would replace the funds used once the department of education has allocated money to them.
Mayekiso said the university was also not aware of the medical aid issues.
She said the university would speak to the administrators of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) to ensure that the matter is resolved.
