Higher education minister Blade Nzimande is meeting university councils and vice-chancellors to persuade them to allow all students, including those with outstanding debt, to register for the 2021 academic year.
He was tasked with this duty during a virtual meeting between the powerful South African Students Congress (Sasco) and the ANC’s top six, as well as finance minister Tito Mboweni and police minister Bheki Cele, on Monday.
Sasco secretary-general Buthanani Thobela said Nzimande was expected to provide feedback to Sasco on Wednesday.
Universities South Africa (USAf), the mouthpiece of the 26 vice-chancellors, met them on Monday to discuss possible solutions to student protests that have erupted at several universities across the country.
At the weekend, Sasco called for a national shutdown of the institutions after several insisted students pay a portion of their debt before being allowed to register.
In the latest protest action on Tuesday, students barricaded the gates to North West University’s (NWU) Mafikeng campus, forcing vice-chancellor Prof Dan Kgwadi to close that campus.
There were also protests in Tshwane.
That’s tantamount to free education, which has not been pronounced anywhere. We cannot afford that; we have a business to run.
— North West University vice-chancellor Professor Dan Kgwadi
The University of Cape Town (UCT), University of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela University (NMU) have given the green light for indebted students to register.
The debt owed to the 26 institutions by students is about R10bn, which includes R1.6bn owed to the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and R1bn to Johannesburg’s Wits university.
Thobela said the main issues were historical debt and allowing all students to register.
“The most important thing is solving the question of registration. We are waiting for the minister to come and give us feedback, but we are still on a national shutdown.”
Government must come up with a solid solution on how it plans to solve the problem of historical debt, said Thobela.
“We obviously agreed that collectively this week there will be an address to the public as and when we have a final resolution on the impasse.”
He said they were hoping to meet Cele during the week because “there’s really a need for discussion on how police are handling public protests, particularly student protests, because students are always not armed”.
USAf CEO Prof Ahmed Bawa said he would not comment yet on his meeting with vice-chancellors on Monday as the “issues were very complex”.
“They are pooling information today and tomorrow. After that we will say something.”
He said at the weekend that the government must take the lead in finding a long-term national solution to student debt.
“The solution does not lie with the universities.”
In the longer term, said Bawa, “one would hope that the idea of a partnership between government and the banking sector may provide the basis for new approaches to student funding challenges we have”.
Meanwhile, Kgwadi said some students were demanding financial clearance for all students with historical debt and that the university must “absorb” the outstanding debt.
“That’s tantamount to free education, which has not been pronounced anywhere. We cannot afford that; we have a business to run.”
Excluding those who have been handed over to lawyers, 11,732 students owe the university R194m.
Kgwadi said he was more concerned about protesting students contracting Covid-19 because they were breaching safety protocols.
“It’s some of the political structures that are striking. The Student Representative Council (SRC) is not part of the protest action as they and the university management are on the same page.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.