DUT students protest after NSFAS delays

Anger is boiling over at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) over student funding‚ a week after similar frustration at the Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape.

It emerged recently that a student at WSU had accidentally received a whopping R14-million pay-out from the company administrating NSFAS funds. The student was accused of spending more than R800‚000 of the R14-million and a case of theft was opened this week‚ triggering outrage from fellow students waiting for their disbursements.

The DUT student representative council (SRC) has threatened a massive shutdown of the institution if NSFAS does not address their concerns over student funding.

Lectures were disrupted on Wednesday when a group of students staged a protest over funding‚ which resulted in the suspension of three SRC members.

The student leaders have nonetheless vowed to step up their protests.

Despite the suspension‚ the three SRC members called a media conference on campus on Thursday to register their frustration with NSFAS and they have threatened to pull out from the state-funded body.

Halfway through the media briefing‚ a group of university security guards stormed the venue and demanded to talk to the SRC’s deputy secretary-general Mbuso Sithole‚ who refused and said he would speak to them later.

Sithole has been suspended along with the SRC’s organisation and accommodation officer Sihle Biyase and social and welfare officer Vela Bawane‚ who were also part of the media briefing.

The SRC has accused NFSAS of failing to disburse funds to students due to its “incompetency and maladministration which has left the majority of DUT students frustrated”.

Sithole said more than 800 students were currently not receiving their meal allowances‚ and had not been since the beginning of the semester.

“So students have been going to class on empty stomachs for the past three months. The very same students are expected to go to class to write their tests‚ to write their exams and receive the same results as students who had breakfast and lunch. NSFAS has been compromising poor students of DUT‚” he said.

At least 12‚000 students are dependent on NSFAS funding at DUT for this academic year‚ up from 8‚000 last year.

The SRC said‚ despite various engagements with NSFAS management‚ there were still a number of issues that have not been addressed.

Sithole said that‚ in 2016‚ NSFAS and the higher education department agreed to pay off DUT students’ historical debt dating back to 2013‚ but this had not yet happened.

He accused NSFAS of “playing hide and seek and delaying tactics in terms of getting students paid” their allowances.

“It has led to those students not receiving their qualifications. They can’t get access to their results‚ which leaves them unemployable‚” said Sithole.

He described meal allowances as a “burning issue right now”. He said the centralised NSFAS system to disburse allowances had a number of flaws.

“The system is central‚ which means that everything is done through the NSFAS head office. It is now between the students and NSFAS‚ which gives DUT very little to monitor the funds. But the system has shown a number of flaws‚” he said.

He said during a recent meeting with NSFAS management they had made it clear that they want to pull out from the system but were told that if they do so they must find their own funding.

“I believe the NSFAS system is not working for us as students. The very same students will be expected that they pass their exams so that they continue getting funding from NSFAS but the very same NSFAS is standing in their way because the reality of the matter is that you can’t focus 100% and cannot perform to your maximum potential if you go to class on a hungry stomach.”

Questions have been sent to NSFAS for response‚ and TimesLIVE will carry their responses as a follow-up story.