By: Thato Mocuminyane

photo by: Thokozani Biyana

Breaking the ground as confirmation

Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) hosted an official handover ceremony, on Monday, October 5th 2026, at Pretoria west campus. The whole point of the ceremony was to officially handover and literally break the ground as confirmation to the inception of the student housing infrastructure programme.

photo by: Thokozani Biyana

VC and Principal of TUT, Prof. Tinyiko Maluleke

TUT together with the Developmental Bank of South Africa (DBSA) have been conducting discussions and negotiations on the issues and challenges regarding student housing since 2019. The DBSA has agreed to fund TUT with 2900 beds for the 2027 academic year, that is 1800 beds in Pretoria west campus, and 1100 beds in Soshanguve campus, this is to help student life become easier and more efficient. The Resources and Funding is also from the Project managers from Student Housing Infrastructure Programme (SHIP) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the TUT internal teams.

photo by: Thokozani Biyana

groundbreaking tools

This joint initiative between TUT and DBSA will continue from 2026 – 2035. According to the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Operations at TUT, Dr Shadrack Nthangeni, ‘One significant challenge they have faced is finalizing the project and making sure that the accurate amount of beds are available and made in order to keep this programme up and running , as well as finalizing documentation that will officialize this initiative.’

photo by: Thokozani Biyana

Deputy Vice Chancellor of Operations at TUT, Dr Shadrack Nthangeni

The DBSA and TUT are looking forward to making student accommodation become easier and accessible for TUT students, and the official grand opening ceremony to celebrate the completion of residences will take place in 2029.

photo by: Thokozani Biyana