University of Pretoria SRC members accuse university of dictatorship following suspensions

The University of Pretoria’s Student Representative Council (SRC) has been dealt a crushing blow after seven of its members, including the president, were suspended for leading a protest against fee increases.

According to students, this has not only sparked fear to speak out or protest freely, but also left them without representatives to formally engage management on their fees grievances.

Hefty registration fee hikes

Academic activities at the University of Pretoria main campus in Hatfield, Pretoria, were disrupted when students protested the increases that will see registration fees for undergraduates increasing from R5,000 to R7,500 next year, and then to R10,000 in 2024.

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Registration fees for post-graduate programmes will increase from R7,500 to R10,000 in 2023 and then to R12,500 in 2024, with international students expected to fork out R40,000 on registration and half of their fees.

According to a suspension letter that The Citizen has seen, the university claims to have “prima facie evidence” of misconduct for disrupting classes and blockading the university’s Ring Road entrance.

Intimidation

Last Tuesday, the university sent out e-mails to students and staff, promising to act against those in breach of the institution’s policies, who have made themselves guilty of misconduct.

Suspended SRC president Thuto Mashila said they have engaged management through meetings, e-mails and submitted suggestions and proposals on the fee increases, but have been ignored.

She said they then held a mass student meeting on Monday, during which they agreed to a protest to voice their grievances, but the university responded by threatening students through e-mails and text messages.

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“The threats have forced students to back down and abandon their support for the action for fear of being suspended. So, there is that element of fear that the university is employing to intimidate us instead of engaging,” Mashila said.

She said they were not only barred from campus, but also had to beg to be allowed to stay in the university’s residents.

Fee increases won’t affect all students

The university has explained that the increase will not affect all students, as those funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and external sponsors will not be required to make the increased first payment. 

Students who cannot make the first payment should approach the NSFAS or the university itself for financial assistance.  

But Mashila argued that 20% of students were funded by NSFAS, which she said was about 13,000 students. She said the problem is that is would take time to confirm which students would be funded.

She said the NSFAS funding confirmations were available around March, when registrations had already closed in February.

“These students cannot register until the SRC reaches an agreement with management that students without debt can register. Another focus point that we must look at is the issue of the missing middle students… About 60% of students do not qualify for NSFAS because they are too rich for NSFAS but too poor to afford registration fees. These are students the university has not considered,” Mashila said.

She added that these are students who could not even afford the current registration fees and that the university also failed to consider the fact that NSFAS did not have funds to cover all needy students.

Dictatorial

Boris Mukwambo, deputy chairperson of the SRC’s Law and Social Justice unit, said the increases meant he would not be in a financial position to register for his final year in 2023.

He said the worst part was that the university used a dictatorial approach in engaging with students, saying he had left his faculty student body membership as the university was dictating what they did or said.

Mukwambo said since the suspension of the SRC, fear has gripped the campus and students could not even distribute pamphlets.

“They even fear taking the pamphlets, let alone distribute them on campus. We have resorted to pasting the pamphlets in bathrooms,” he said.

Deputy SRC president Stefan Steenkamp has not been suspended and would not be drawn into discussing the grievances, only saying that 11 SRC members were still in office and assisting students.

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Last resort

University spokesperson Rikus Delport said the SRC members were temporarily suspended as a last resort pending an appeal.

He said these temporary suspensions will be lifted immediately once the students commit to avoiding all actions that disrupt teaching and learning and all operational activities of the university.

According to Delport, suspended students will still be allowed to continue with their studies during their suspension but will not be allowed to participate in any on-campus activities.

“They have been suspended for disrupting campus activities, including classes, blocking entrances to a campus and trying to prevent buses from transporting students between campuses.

“While we care about all our students and staff, the suspensions are as a result of all other options having been exhausted. The University held several discussions with students, including meetings with senior management, where we appealed to them to refrain from interrupting the academic programme,” he said.

Delport said the university held off the increase due to financial hardship of students and the Covid pandemic, but said the financial situation of the university has meant that an increase could regrettably no longer be put off.