MASERU — Students at Limkokwing University in Maseru took to the streets yesterday in protest over delays by the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) to pay their book allowances.
The Limkokwing Students’ Representative Council (SRC) secretary general, Setloke Lekhela, said all hell broke loose when the students heard that their book allowances would only be paid on Friday.
Students at the university get M3 000 a year as book allowance.
They also get M1 240 as subsistence every month.
The students alleged that they were supposed to get the money last month but up until now they have not received anything from the NMDS.
He said they had a meeting with the NMDS to discuss methods of speeding up the process.
The SRC members also had another meeting with the NMDS director on August 12 who told them that she had already deposited funds into the university’s account.
Lekhela said they went back to the management to find out what was causing the delay after the NMDS said it had deposited the money.
He said the management told them that the NMDS had asked them not to deposit the money into the students’ account until they had given them a list of students who had renewed their contracts.
This infuriated the students after they heard the university had been given their allowances but a university official who had the authority to deposit it in their bank accounts was away in Malaysia.
Yesterday was a holiday in Malaysia and the university management and students were allegedly unable to talk to the authorising official.
The students allegedly broke gates at the institution as they chanted protest songs.
“We had a meeting with the management and while we were still in the meeting we heard students singing outside,” Lekhela said.
He said the students did not follow formal procedures before staging a protest.
