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Gallery: TUT students in Mbombela continue with strike

TUT students insist that their requests be met, or they will not resume their classes.

March 3, 2020
Deborah Gbenro and Anmané Eckard 3 minutes read
The entrance to the Mbombela campus of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) was blocked by a wall erected by protesting students this week.
The students have issues with the university and NSFAS student loans and they are determined to keep the wall in place until their demands are met.
The students say that NSFAS is not paying over their allowances, meaning they cannot register for the new academic year and they are unable to buy books.
Included in the NSFAS allowance is a living allowance and students say they are going hungry without that.
Other issues raised by the protesting students include academic exclusions, past-year results not being released due to unpaid fees, the make-up of teaching staff in the management science faculty, courses being phased out and enough time to appeal their exclusion from future NSFAS funding.
Senior students also want their tests to be postponed until solutions are found to their problems.
SRC president Thulani Mlangeni told Lowvelder, “We have been speaking to the management since last year and they committed to providing solutions. But we have not seen any changes yet.”
Alex Nkosi, president of Boko Haram, said that the university’s response is the same every time they inquire about these problems.
“Since last month, their response has been that they were in a meeting, but we want to know what happened in that meeting,” says Nkosi.
Willa de Ruyter, spokesperson for TUT, told Lowvelder that the minister of Higher Education and Training said that academic records of “all students, whether they owe the university or not, must be given their academic records, either for the purpose of pursuing employment opportunities or for further study”.
“The practice at TUT is that all students, whether they owe the university or not, are invited to come and graduate for their respective qualifications,” De Ruyter said.
“Students who graduate still owing the university are issued with a letter confirming that they complied with all the academic requirements for the issuing of their respective qualifications.
In tune with the agreement with the minister, the university issues academic records to prospective employers and other institutions of higher learning for the purpose of affording students who graduated while still owing the university an opportunity to pursue employment opportunities and further study.
“She says this has been the practice at TUT since 2016.

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“However, the agreement with the minister is only limited to making academic records available either for the purpose of pursuing employment and further studies and does not cover availing academic records for any other purpose.
“On the matter of courses being phased out, the university is placing them in the Phase-out Phase in Plans for the respective qualifications as approved by the university’s senate.”

The university acknowledges that there might be students, particularly first-year students, who are not familiar with some academic policies and procedures.

The university is committed to address issues on academic exclusion, predicates and other academic interventions across TUT.

This commitment to educate students in this regard will commence with immediate effect.

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“The University will make provision for students who failed to register before the registration closing date due to non-availability of results to finalise registration after publication of such results.

The same arrangement applies to other students who failed to register before registration closing date due to other internal delays,” she said.

“Current and previously NSFAS-funded students with outstanding debt from previous years who wish to register in 2020, will be required to sign an acknowledgement of debt before they register. This can be done at the Student Finance Offices at any of the TUT campuses.”

According to the Financial Aid Office (FAO), a number of students whose allowances were loaded did not update their banking details as requested, hence did not receive their allowances.

These students are being informed to do so. Students who are affected by late-result submissions and meet the minimum academic requirements will be assisted with allowances while the FAO engages with NSFAS to confirm them.

“However, it is important to note that should NSFAS not confirm them for whatever reason, these students will be liable for the debt. This will be done before March 6.

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Any student who still has not received their allowances should report to their campus FAO for assistance and clarification of their NSFAS status.

“All NSFAS fully funded students had access to their results. This will include students for whom funding has still not been paid by NSFAS to the university.

The exceptions are the following: NSFAS students who are not fully funded; capped students who are returning students who received funding prior to 2018; and students who did not apply or did not qualify for all the years registered at the university and now owe money,” De Ruyter concluded.

March 3, 2020
Deborah Gbenro and Anmané Eckard 3 minutes read
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