Students walk out of meeting with Blade

Published Jan 15, 2016

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Pretoria - Cracks between student leaders appeared on Thursday when some walked out of a meeting with Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande.

Thursday’s meeting in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, was a follow-up to one Nzimande had with student representative council (SRC) presidents and secretaries to try to resolve the university fee protests that spread across the country late last year and have continued into the new academic year.

But the meeting fell apart when student leaders from the universities of Wits, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Rhodes and Fort Hare walked out, claiming the department was not willing to yield to their demands.

Read: #FeesMustFall protest set to intensify

Some student leaders who remained in the meeting had reached an agreement with Nzimande; including the University of Venda (Univen), University of Limpopo, University of Zululand, Durban University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology and Mangosuthu University of Technology.

Univen SRC president Mashudu Nthulane said: “I am very disappointed in the leadership that walked out, because the majority of them come from elite universities and are not disadvantaged.

“We came all the way from disadvantaged universities far (away) hoping to resolve (the matter) as student leaders. When students elected us, they had faith in us.”

She said prolonging protests would have dire consequences for students at formerly disadvantaged universities.

But Fort Hare SRC president Busisiwe Mashiqa disagreed, saying others too came from universities which were financially challenged.

“What we came here to get; we came out with absolutely nothing. We are saying the minister must commit with time-frames but he doesn’t want to do that.”

The student leaders who walked out said they want a timeline on when free education can be implemented in the country.

Read: Zuma announces inquiry into varsity funding

Wits SRC president Nompendulo Mkhatshwa - one of the faces of last year’s protest - described the meeting as a talkshop. “We were not engaged. We wish we had more thorough commitments made by the department. We acknowledge they have pushed other commitments to commissions but that’s not what we need right now. We need tangible agreements.”

Nzimande said he was surprised about the walk-out but the department was still willing to engage with student leaders. But, he said, there was agreement that departmental officials, university vice-chancellors and student representatives go through the issues.

He reminded the meeting of the commitment for historic debt - R2.54 billion - to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to be paid. The money would assist more than 71 000 students, while financial exclusion would be dealt with by the commission of inquiry set up by President Jacob Zuma to look into higher education funding and related issues.

In Pretoria, local universities are yet to determine the full consequences of strike action by outsourced workers, which have disrupted operations this week.

The University of Pretoria has cancelled its annual Welcome Day scheduled for Saturday. And together with Unisa, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Tshwane South College, Tshwane North College and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences, it remained closed for a fourth day in a row on Thursday.

Vice-chancellor and principal Professor Cheryl de la Rey said that in the interests of the safety of students, parents and staff, management had decided not to proceed with Welcome Day as scheduled.

She apologised, acknowledging that many students and their parents had travelled from far and had been looking forward to the day.

She gave the assurance that “every effort will be made to ensure there will be no disruption to our academic year or the planned orientation programme”.

De la Rey said online registration for first year students would start on Monday. Arrangements to receive students into residences remained in place. She said the varsity was committed to a peaceful solution to the protests, and talks were continuing.

At Unisa’s main Muckleneuk campus and the Sunnyside campus, staff and students were urged to stay away until further notice while students were urged to register online before the end of January.

Tshwane University of Technology spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said that in line with the 2016 academic calendar, on-site registration had been scheduled to commence on Monday. This meant the protests did not prevent any students from registering, she said. Security measures were in place to ensure a safe environment to work in, she said.

Pretoria News

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