MBABANE: Andile Phakathi, a second year Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science student at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) is calling for the restoration of the University\'s image.

Speaking to this Swaziland News, the aspiring President of the UNESWA Student’s Representative Council (SRC) said it was high time for all stakeholders at the university to work together towards the restoration of the University\'s image.

\"The University is now notorious for its never ending class boycots and most recently was the Lecturers strike which could have been prevented if government was paying enough subventions to the University. We are calling for government to take the youth and students seriously by paying subventions and allowances on time. This crisis will compromise the quality of graduates that are produced by the university and its ratings will drop drastically\", he said.

Phakathi who is also the current Mbabane branch Treasurer of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) further called for the transfer of scholarships from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security back to the Ministry of Education and Training.

\"We are not valued at the Ministry of Labour, they treat us like labourers. We want our Scholarships to be transferred back to the Ministry of Education, which is the relevant Ministry. We have lost trust in this system of government which unleashes its brutal police force on us each time when we are demanding for our rights. The situation is also worsened by the absence of an independent body that will monitor the conduct of the police, but I believe that democracy would be a solution to all these problems\", said the Treasurer.

Elections for the new UNESWA SRC will be conducted online tomorrow