“Nothing has changed”: Residents at Studios@Burnett continue to complain

Thabo Moenyane

In March, the residents of Studios@ Burnett issued a memorandum with a list of grievances to the Feenstra Group (the company that owns Studios@Burnett) in hopes that their grievances would be addressed and resolved. Months later, it seems as if the memorandum that was issued did not have any impact as residents are still facing the same issues.

The students grievances include issues such as Wi-Fi, fumigation, the sexual harassment policy and electricity, just to name a few. When asked if anything has been done by management to address these issues, a resident who wishes to remain anonymous said “only the sexual harassment policy was amended, but with regard to other issues nothing has really changed since then. We are still faced with the same issues if not more.”

The updates and amendments to the sexual harassment policy are yet to be finalised by residents and experts from the University of Pretoria - but according to residents issues surrounding electricity have not beeen addressed yet. According to the residents, they are being overcharged for electricity. “We spend so much on electricity because of this problem,” said a resident.

Furthermore, the residents have also taken issue with the Wi-Fi because of how slow and unstable it is. When asked about how residents feel about this and how it is affecting them, the resdient said, “the Wi-Fi is just frustrating because it is so slow and, as students, we need reliable and fast Wi-Fi to do our academic work”. This is affecting the residents in multiple ways – financially (as many residents have opted to get their own portable routers) and academically. The residents have, upon numerous accounts, reported this and nothing has been done to date. Another issue taken up by the residents is the cockroach problem in the residence. “There’s always some fumigation happening but the roaches never really die or go away,” said a resident.

According to the residents, the building and its furniture have also not been maintained.

“There is a mirror in my room that has since been broken. I reported it and it has not been fixed,” said the resident. The residents are aware of the proper channels that should be followed to report any issue - yet these issues have, nevertheless, remained unresolved with minimal recourse. The rental fee is set to increase in 2023 and the residents are discontent as they feel that this is adding onto an already long list of grievances.

When contacted for comment, the management of Studios@Burnett said, “there are systems in place for residents to lodge their