By Alex Patrick.
Blade Nzimande, minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, met with Universities South Africa (USAf) on Friday to discuss issues raised by protesting university students.
This after the Student Representative Council (SRC) from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) embarked on ongoing protest action on Wednesday.
On Thursday, around 200 students succeeded in halting classes on the Wits campus, and the protest turned violent on Thursday and Friday after students destroyed property and looted shops in and around the campus in the Johannesburg city centre.
The university has suspended several transgressors who were identified using images and videos taken during clashes with security.
The SRC has announced the university is in a “state of emergency” until its demands are met.
The demands are:
- All students owing R150 000 or less should be allowed to register for the 2023 academic year;
- The R10 000 upfront fee to secure residence placement be wavered, and for the students to be allowed to move in;
- The university must allocate an additional R30 million towards an accommodation fund in order to secure more beds for homeless students;
- The NSFAS R45 000 cap for residences should be scrapped with immediate effect, and;
- All students who are recipients of the Hardship Fund should be allowed to register and not pay the residual amount.
On Friday, Nzimande sought to make resolutions on these demands.
According to the department, a committee comprising the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), USAf and Vice-Chancellors from all affected institutions is to be established to consider solutions for those impacted by the R45 000 cap.
“The committee will meet urgently next week to look at cases and practical solutions.”
On the NSFAS eligibility criteria, which required students to have an overall 55% pass rate, the department said NSFAS clarified that new eligibility criteria would apply with considerations in 2024.
Nzimande said arrangements were made for all NSFAS funded students to be registered by all institutions without paying an upfront registration fee.
According to the department, the commitment by the Department of Higher Education and Training and USAf to implement all previous agreements with the South African Union of Students (SAUS) was reiterated.
These agreements include that:
- NSFAS students with academic places who have debt be allowed to register provided they sign the Acknowledgement of Debt form and they meet the academic requirements for continued funding;
- NSFAS-qualifying students must continue to be able to register for the academic year without making upfront payments;
- All students, whether they owe the university or not, must be given their academic records.
- All “missing middle” students, who do not qualify for NSFAS, but struggle to afford higher education fees, will be comprehensively dealt with in our comprehensive funding model, which is in its final stages of development and approval.
“The issue of student debt is also being dealt with as part of the development of a comprehensive student funding model. It is, therefore, incorrect and misleading to say that the issue of student debt is not being dealt with, in all its complexities,” the department said.
To deal with the protests “which causes instability in some institutions”, the meeting agreed that the institutions urgently convene meetings through forums and student leadership to deal with outstanding registration challenges.
“However, the minister is concerned about the violent nature of some of the protests, such as the protest at Wits, which in part is manifested isolated acts of intimidation of students, staff and members of the public and the destruction of public and private property.
“Minister Nzimande, strongly condemns these instances of violent student protests.”
Nzimande said violent protests are “wholly unacceptable and provides no solution to student concerns”.
He urged students to return to class, and urged student leaders who had withdrawn from engagements with management to return to those engagements.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, the Wits SRC said it had a meeting with the management during the day, “and we got a few promising commitments”.
“We will share the outcomes at our mass meeting [on Sunday] at 20:00 along with a way forward for the next week,” SRC said.