Students protesting over National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) payments at the University of the East Cape Midlands in Makhanda forced staff to leave the campus on Friday morning.
Students have been protesting since Wednesday over NSFAS paying 90% of their accommodation allowance to their landlords rather than directly into their accounts.
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Approximately 200 students gathered at the university from 8am. When they saw employees working, they went door to door to force them out, and then set fire to paper and cardboard in front of the gates. Police were waiting.
Lindokure Kenene, the jobs and skills support officer at the Students' Representative Council (SRC), said NSFAS's new system of paying 90% of allowances to landlords was problematic.
“How can I survive for a month on this 10%?'' Kenene asked.
He said university management was working with NSFAS on the issue and the students were not in dispute with the university.
“We understand that this is a decision by NSFAS. The reason we are protesting here at the university is because we want university management to put pressure on NSFAS to rectify this. ,” Kennen said.
The student, who gave his name only as Zintle, said he would not return to class until the issue was resolved.
“We have not received any communication on this matter. NSFAS should have consulted all relevant stakeholders and proposed this before making any conclusions. Instead of increasing the amount we received last year. , they are reducing it now,” the student said.
Charles van Heerden, the university's president, issued a statement condemning the protests and calling for classes to resume as normal.
Mr Van Heerden said the university was aware of the issues raised by students and university management was actively working with NSFAS to address the issue.
On Wednesday, students marched through town to express their dissatisfaction with the police department.
Questions sent to NSFAS spokesperson Tsholofolo Zweni were acknowledged but were not answered by the deadline.
© 2024 GroundUp. This article was originally published here.