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CPUT students during a protest outside Parliament in Cape Town.
As President Cyril Ramaphosa is delivering his State of the Nation Address (SONA), about 100 metres down the street, scores of students from the Cape Town University of Technology (CPUT) are staging a protest.
Some carrying their luggage, saying, continued evictions from various student residences the last coinciding with the day of the SONA is what has brought them to metres of the Cape City Hall, where the president, his cabinet and other members of the National Assembly have converged.
They say the evictions are due to funding issues.
CPUT students staging a protest under heavy police guard about 100 meters from where President Cyril Ramaphosa is delivering the State of the Nation Address inside the Cape Town City Hall. #SONA2026 #SABCNEWS pic.twitter.com/iMjqgEVkSJ
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) February 12, 2026
Student Mihle Madikizela says the institution relocated them Ekhaya Student Living, a building on Cape Town’s busy Long Street which he says has been blacklisted by the NFSAS on Wednesday and they were served with eviction notices by the landlord without any word from university management.
This, he says, has left them stranded and without a place to sleep.
Police have blocked CPUT students about 100 meters from the venue of the SONA in Cape Town. They say their protest follows continued evictions due to funding issues, the last one being today, leaving them accommodation-less tonight. Student Mihle Madikizela. #SONA2026 #SABCNEWS pic.twitter.com/Z4vXwfT19k
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) February 12, 2026
He says Minister of Higher Education Buti Manamela addressed them earlier and promised to give them feedback after the president’s speech.
Student Mihle Madikizela says they’re expecting feedback about their plight from the minister of higher education, Buti Manamela, after the president’s speech. #SONA2026 #SABCNEWS pic.twitter.com/sEf97DV01J
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) February 12, 2026
CPUT student and Sasco member, Ayabonga Mnyamana, says they have marched to Parliament to make their plight known and to demand answers.
CPUT student and Sasco member, Ayabonga Mnyamana, says they have marched to parliament to make their plight known and to demand answers. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the State of the Nation Address at 19h00. #SONA2026 #SABCNEWS pic.twitter.com/vBMPjTbE1z
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) February 12, 2026
