The ministry ordered the closure of the college on Monday after a week's student class boycott. The students embarked on the boycott in protest over water and power shortages, among other grievances.
But the minister said yesterday that he would not just watch when the situation was getting out of control. "My friend democracy has its own limits," he declared. Nkate said it was shocking that the students had continued with the class boycott even after their representatives held a meeting with him last week. He said during the meeting it was agreed that a task force of senior ministry officials, college management and students' representatives, should be formed to look into the issues that students were complaining about. The task force, which was supposed to report to him on Tuesday, was also expected to map the way forward. Nkate said during the meeting, it was agreed that students would resume classes. He said the SRC apologised and was unanimous that the approach they had adopted was wrong before making an undertaking to convince their members to return to classes. He felt the meeting was productive but had a rude awakening when he learnt that students were continuing with the boycott. He said when he heard that the students were still boycotting classes, he suspended the work of the task force. Nkate said on Friday he warned the SRC about reneging on the agreement they had made. "I told them that if by Monday, you don't go back to classes, I will close the institution," he said. Nkate said students would continue to inhabit the hostels despite claims that the facilities were inhabitable. He said the students "can not continue to sleep and eat at government expense when they are refusing to attend classes".
