ASK WENDY - Parents: Can we expect a fee refund now?

Parents of students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, led by advocate Terry Price, are threatening legal action against the university, claiming that it failed to honour the rights of non-protesting students.

Price, acting as a concerned parent, says the university should have acted in the interests of the larger group of non-protesting students rather than in the interest of the minority.

Linda Brown writes:

Q: “I would be very interested, as would a larger number of your readers I am sure, to know about the rights of fee payers in relation to the suspension of academic programmes at the vast majority of universities across the country.

“In my opinion we fee payers have a contractual arrangement with the institutions to deliver a service for which we have paid. The institution I pay fees to has said that they will legally challenge anyone who tries to claim a proportional fee refund for the academic time lost during 2015 and 2016. 

“The threat to not complete the academic year brings a whole different angle to this too. Where does the CPA stand on this on both the current situation of lost academic time, as well as the far reaching implications of students who are in their final year not being able to complete their degrees in 2016. 

“Will we really be expected to fork out a full year's tuition when there are only four weeks of the academic year left?”

A: I asked CPA attorney Janusz Luterek of Hahn & Hahn Attorneys for his view.


“Where performance in terms of a contract is impossible due to war, riots, act of God etc,  then the terms of a contract are generally suspended until the circumstances change.  This used to be called vis maior or force majeur when I studied law,” he said.

“I believe that when the student protests escalate to riots, damaging property and risking life and limb, a university has an obligation to suspend its activities in the interest of student safety and to preserve the university as a whole.

“I cannot see anyone bringing a successful claim but I would expect the university to make special provisions for those who paid in 2016 to write exams and even attend missed lectures in 2017 at no additional cost.”