Today is the eighth day the University is feeding large numbers of students, both new and returning. Each day, more than 500 students receive meals from Give of the Givers, a charity organisation that provides much-needed support to people adversely affected by hard times. Many students come to the University because they believe MUT offers them hope. This makes it difficult for the University to manage the situation; some of these students arrive early and spend the entire day on campus; the numbers are overwhelming. Some students are from distant places and must leave the University very late, when they are very hungry.
Mbali Mkhize, the Senior Director, Department of Marketing and Communications, said that what the University was doing for students was part of the Institution’s philosophy of caring for others. “We were highly touched by the fact that potential students who are pinning their hopes on MUT for a better future experience hunger even before they sit for their lectures. No one deserves to starve.
Some of the students who received the meals this week were Nonkululeko Sigasa, a second-year Analytical Chemistry student from the Vaal, and Nomhle Manda, a second-year Diploma in Accounting student from the East Rand, both in Gauteng. Both students said they can now save money because they no longer have to buy food during the day, as they receive meals from Gift of the Givers.