Lupane University goes one month without internet over unpaid bill

By Natasha Adam

Lupane State University (LSU) has reportedly gone for a month without internet access due to failure to pay their Internet Service Provider.

Staffers at the institution said the internet blackout at the Bulawayo campus started at the beginning of January as the institution owed TelOne an undisclosed amount of money in debt.

“The month-long absence of internet access has left the LSU lecturers struggling to prepare for lectures adequately because their lecture preparation requires internet access for research,” said a source.

They said without internet access, students were having difficulties accessing their e-learning platforms as their other source of internet access is overloaded due to high volumes of traffic.

The staffers at the university said it was difficult to implement Education 5.O, a policy that focuses on community outreach, innovation and industrialisation when there is no internet access to conduct the necessary research to achieve this.

They said LSU had done nothing to resolve the lack of internet access and there has allegedly been no communication between the institution’s administration and its lecturers as to when the problem will be resolved.

Contacted for comment yesterday, LSU director of marketing and communication, Mr Zwelithini Dlamini, denied the allegations that the university’s Bulawayo campus has been without internet access for a month.

“We only did not have internet access for two to three weeks. We have engaged the service provider, TelOne, and we have resolved the issue for a reasonable amount which I cannot disclose,” he said.

Mr Dlamini said the reason for the university’s failure to pay TelOne was because students were away on holiday and the institution relies on tuition fees for its revenue. The Chronicle