The Cape Peninsula University of Technology closed its Bellville campus amid protests by dental students. (Photo: Jacques Stander / Gallo Images) The futures of dental science students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) are hanging in the balance as a dispute between the university and the South African Dental Technicians Council (SADTC) has brought the programme to a grinding halt.
With the campus now under a student-led shutdown, the standoff over policy issues, substandard laboratories and exam assessments threatens to derail years of academic hard work.
For many, the crisis is already a financial catastrophe. Students have been unable to study properly since June 2025 because of a lack of proper laboratory facilities. In addition, because the university has been unable to provide module marks for this period, many students have seen their National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding cancelled, leaving them worried about who will pay for tuition and accommodation fees.
The crisis deepened after a directive from the SADTC mandated that students cannot graduate without concurrent council registration. The SADTC previously ordered CPUT to suspend classes at temporary laboratories set up at the Bellville campus after they failed to meet health and safety standards, posing significant hazards.
Council’s strikes
The council, a statutory regulator of South African dental technology, oversees university training quality to ensure graduates meet national competency standards. In a statement on 26 March 2026, the council said that the dental programme has been suspended.
The council said it was instructed to ensure that no more students will graduate without simultaneous registration with the council.
“CPUT must commit to not graduating students who cannot simultaneously be registered with council. To date, CPUT has maintained that it has autonomy to graduate students irrespective of whether they meet the requirements for registration. Council had no option but to make a condition of accreditation be that UoTs [universities of technology] must graduate students only if they can also be registered,” the council said.
The council required a joint assessment of the final practical exit-level examination by a panel comprising university and council examiners working together; to date, however, “CPUT has not agreed to this”.
Students were completing their teaching practicals and attending classes at Tygerberg Hospital until May 2025 when they were forced to move. Unfortunately, new permanent laboratories developed by CPUT were not ready for occupation as hoped by July 2025 and the students were moved to the temporary facilities in Bellville. However, during a visit to the temporary laboratories in October 2025, the SADTC found that they did not conform to regulations and were a health and safety hazard and had told the university to cease all activities in those laboratories.
Students caught in crossfire
For students caught in the crossfire, the situation has moved from frustration to trauma. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a third-year dental technology student described the toll of the months-long hiatus.
“NSFAS dropped me. It was a lot of pressure because my parents had to cover the cost, but CPUT covered the payments and book allowance. They (CPUT) have stopped responding; ever since we started striking, they have been quiet. We are tired of forcing communication; there’s a lot of trauma. Now I might graduate in 2028, which was not my plan.”
A second-year student echoed this despair, noting that students have lost both their funding and accommodation. “We had no marks; people who are meant to graduate are not graduating. This issue is delaying us. [...] It is also unlikely that we will finish this year. We have not started classes this year.”
CPUT’s defence
CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley admitted the new building initially lacked proper certification but insisted this has since been resolved. She argued that the friction with the council is a long-standing industry issue rather than a specific failure by the university.
“This is not CPUT that did something wrong; this is not us specifically. The initial stumbling block was experienced with the SADTC in 2020. The SADTC previously refused to register graduated students, whereas previously this had been done automatically upon completion of the qualification.
“The SADTC has now imposed new rules that affect the university’s ability to fulfil its mandated function: to teach, assess and graduate students when they qualify. This has impacted many of our students who have graduated and are still not registered with the SADTC,” Kansley said.
Regarding the laboratory closure, she explained that the move from Tygerberg was involuntary. “The Department of Health wanted this space back [...], so we had to relinquish the space and create our own. […] The venue’s been finished for months. The venue needed to be certified. And we are not in a position to hold classes in a place that hasn’t had the appropriate certification,” Kansley said.
What happens next?
While the university claims it has a recovery plan to help students catch up, the graduation ceremony scheduled for mid-April remains up in the air.
Students have now submitted a formal memorandum to Parliament demanding urgent intervention. Until their demands for functional facilities are met, student governing bodies have vowed that classes will remain closed.
Matshepo Seedat, spokesperson for the Minister of Higher Education and Training, told Daily Maverick: “The process is ongoing, and we are working closely with the university to gather and understand all the facts. We will provide an update in due course.” DM