Academic activities at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) are set to resume on Monday, 14 September, after classes were suspended for about three weeks following student protests.

The university suspended its academic programme and ordered students to vacate residences in August amid protests linked to student financial concerns, including historical debt and a proposed financial recovery plan.

The disruption also prompted intervention from the Department of Higher Education and Training, which sent a ministerial delegation to mediate between student leaders and university management.

CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley says students who left university residences can now start making arrangements to return.

“We remain on track to resume academic activities on Monday with a variety of plans and scenarios on the cards to make up for the time lost due to the unrest. This means that all the students who were evacuated from the campuses can now begin to make the appropriate travel plans to return to campus for the start of the final term.”

The protests also resulted in damage to university infrastructure. CPUT previously said the damage was estimated at more than one million rand, although the final cost is still being assessed.

Commenting on the total cost of the damage sustained by the university, Kansley said it was too early to confirm.

“We are awaiting insurance estimations, but it extends to multiple millions.”

Kansley confirmed that while it would take months to repair the damage, efforts have been made to ensure campuses are safe for students and staff.

“Repairs will take many months to conclude but from a health and safety perspective the damages have been fixed by our internal maintenance teams who worked tirelessly to fix what they can.”

The university says the focus now is on getting academic activities back on track and recovering the time lost during the shutdown.