The latest protests which have disrupted and closed down Nelson Mandela University (NMU) have underlined the diverse obstacles many students are grappling with.
Hundreds of students gathered on Thursday morning in solidarity with those who they say are academically excluded by the university because they are unable to register or get funding to pay for their tuition and accommodation.
By late Thursday, however – following a joint meeting of university management and students – there was some breakthrough, when it was decided on the immediate establishment of a clearing house to deal with students’ issues on an individual case basis.
Following the engagement, it was also announced that university operations would resume as normal on Friday.
The protests, which started on Wednesday following a student meeting at the south campus, led to both the north and south campuses being shut down for two days, with all lectures and scheduled examinations delayed.
Some students said though the timing of the shutdown was an inconvenience, they understood that many students did not have the means to finance their studies.
They said the students were actively trying to get registered by attending all lectures regardless of not being on the class register.
Three students – who did not want to be named – spoke about why they had taken to the streets.
A senior education student said she was still waiting for a response from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) but had appealed for an extended late registration date.
The last day for late registration is March 15.
“I have not yet registered because the NSFAS has not yet responded to my application for funding,” she said.
“It’s difficult for third-year students to get funding from the NSFAS because the aid prioritises first-year students.
“I took my appeal for funding up with the SRC [student representative council] and I assume there are a lot of students like me who have raised their grievances with them – that is why today [Thursday] the university has shut down.”
Another student doing her BTech in public management said her parents were forced to take a loan to pay for her registration because she had started to panic.
“Lectures were going ahead and I was falling behind because I was unable to access learning material.
“Some lecturers were just not sending things through regardless of me attending all my classes [because I was not registered],” she said.
“My parents and I started to panic and decided to take a loan and pay my registration.
“It’s a very stressful situation to find yourself in.
“Sometimes you don’t even want to tell your parents because it will stress them and affect their health, which will cause me further panic.
“This is our way of crying out to the university management’s better judgment.”
The student said she was uncertain about how she would pay for her tuition and textbooks going forward because the NSFAS had rejected her application.
“My application for funding was rejected on the grounds that the NSFAS does not fund postgrad students.
“This is very difficult because they are now treating us as though our financial problems have disappeared.”
A third-year education student from Uitenhage said she had already registered but was at the protest because her friend had been unable to register as he was struggling to get funding.
“It’s a lot of money and a lot of [students] struggle because they come from families who are either poor or can’t afford to fully fund their studies,” she said.
“I have a friend who doesn’t have funding.
“We are senior students and the NSFAS does not fund all senior students.
“My friend is from a poor family and I can’t understand why they’re not funding him or allowing him to register.
“He also does not qualify for [the government’s] Funza Lushaka [bursary scheme] because he is a language major student, and they only accept students with maths and science,” she said.
“But my friend passed all his modules and he’s a dedicated student.
“Why can’t they [NSFAS] give him funding?
“On the other hand, the university spends a lot of money changing its name and signage.
“Why can they not allow students to register for free?”
The student said she had to work in 2018 and save up money to pay for her registration and tuition.
“I save as much as I can. “I take the shuttle and take pictures of notes and make photocopies of textbooks with my credits.”
The university leadership as well as public order police representatives had a meeting with students on Thursday, reminding them of the standing interdict preventing protesting students from infringing on the rights of other students and employees.
Issues highlighted by the student leadership represented by the South African Students Congress (Sasco) included:
● Reconsideration of rejected registration appeals. Sasco said it wanted a member of the SRC to form part of the appeals panel. It said there were other reasons beyond family and medical issues to consider when making decisions;
● The registration of all students with historical debt, those awaiting funding and all those who were accepted for admission into the university after application for funding had been closed;
● A fully functioning NSFAS office on campus that would focus on NMU funding applications and distribution of allowances;
● Accrediting more off-campus residences and an accommodation allocation for “zero-familycontribution” students. These are students with families with no income who cannot contribute towards their education. They also do not have NSFAS funding; and
● A better shuttle system to drop students closer to their residences for safety reasons.
SRC president Bamanye Matiwane said the issue of funding also affected accommodation allocation.
Matiwane said hundreds of students had to squat with friends or sleep in the student lounge areas, which compromised their safety.
He said there were students who fell in the zero-family-contribution category who were allowed free registration but were not registered for accommodation in residences.
“The university must pay for these students’ accommodation or else engage the NSFAS so all these students may get accommodation by the end of today,” Matiwane said.
Sasco south campus deputy chair Asemahle Gwala encouraged peaceful unity among students, saying they were not trying to be counter-productive.
“We are not shutting down the university to disrupt the academic process or exams,” Gwala said.
“I am a political science honours student.
“I graduated in record time, but we cannot have students failing because they do not have funding and access to study material.”
Matiwane said: “It can’t happen that we have students who qualify for university but can’t enter on the basis that they don’t have money.
“Their background must never at any point determine their future.”