EFF Youth Command rejects online classes as DUT shifts learning after violent protests

The Economic Freedom Fighters Youth Command (EFFYC) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) has rejected the institution’s move to online learning.

On Tuesday, DUT announced that its Executive Management Committee (EMC) and Senate Executive Committee (Senex) had resolved to transition all lectures across its seven campuses in Durban and the Midlands to online teaching and learning from 18 February 2026 “until further notice” after violent protests.

The university said “incidents of violent protest, disruption and intimidation” had occurred on most Durban campuses.

In its official statement, DUT described “unlawful and violent conduct, including the carrying of weapons and projectiles,” adding that protesters “damaged university property, disrupted academic activities and threatened and intimidated non-protesting students and staff.”

In response , EFFYC DUT Durban Branch rejected the university’s account and its decision to proceed with online classes.

“While the university seeks to create a narrative that this situation is a result of student activism, we categorically reject this distortion of facts,” the student organisation said.

It insisted: “The closure of physical activities is not caused by the EFFYC, but by the continued incompetence of the institution, the failure of its systems and the unresolved crisis surrounding NSFAS-funded students who have not received their allowances.”

The EFFYC maintained that blocking the commencement of classes was justified under the circumstances.

“The EFFYC makes it clear that the denial of the commencement of classes is not an act of disruption, but a necessary response to an institution that continues to ignore the lived realities of poor and working-class students,” the statement read.

Among the issues raised are outstanding NSFAS payments, registration problems and access to learning resources. The organisation said the university had “always failed to ensure that when providing learning data, all students are catered for particularly Vodacom and MTN users,” adding that “it raises a serious concern as to where this data disappears to.”

“Under these conditions, any attempt to commence classes, whether physical or online, is irresponsible,” the EFFYC said.

The branch further rejected the online transition outright: “The EFFYC rejects online classes in their current form.”

It argued that many students lack devices and rely on allowances to participate in digital learning. “Many students do not own proper smartphones, laptops, or tablets, and others rely entirely on NSFAS allowances to secure these necessities,” the statement read.

“To impose online learning without resolving these material conditions is to institutionalise inequality and deliberately exclude poor students from education.”

The EFFYC reiterated its demands, stating: “The immediate release of all NSFAS allowances to all funded students must take place without further delay.”

“Until these matters are resolved, the EFFYC rejects the commencement of classes, as students cannot be expected to study while hungry, stranded, and excluded,” it said.

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