There was a note about the lecturer being away in June. However I still think it is mad to have to wait 2 months to get your assignments marked. At UP some departments have a rule that it is not allowed to take longer than 2 weeks, and those lecturers do classes as well.
Personally I just feel that it is the only real feedback we get as to how we are progressing and if we need to hand in assignments on time we should get them back in a reasonable amount of time too. 2 months for 20 odd students seems a very long