Wits: Academic programme continues amid ongoing student protests

Wits University says it will not be suspending its academic programme on Friday despite the looming threat of a another volatile student protest.

On Thursday, police had to be roped in after dozens of students protested at the Great Hall on the university’s Johannesburg campus including disrupting classes and blocking roads with debris.

They want the university to allow students owing a R150 000 or less to register for the 2023 academic year among other demands.

Suspension orders

Wits University spokesperson Shirona Patel confirmed to The Citizen that the institution has ordered suspension orders to several students.

“Our legal office is continuing to gather the evidence and as soon as we can identity perpetrators, they will be charged.”

Academic program

Patel said the university would ensure the academic programme continues despite the ongoing protests.

“The university is trying to engage with students, but students said they are not ready to engage with us until all their demands are met including historical debt. The university cannot accommodate this request,” said Patel.

Wits investigations found that many of the students on the SRC’S list for exemption were those who had failed courses and programmes for multiple years and who had accumulated large amounts of debt.

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Demands

Other student demands include:

• the R10 000 upfront fee to secure accommodation placement be wavered;
• to allow students to settle into their residences;
• an additional R30 million be added towards an accommodation fund in order to secure more beds for homeless students;
• the NSFAS R45 000 cap for residences be scrapped with immediate effect,
• all students who are recipients of the Hardship Fund be allowed to register and not pay the residual amount.

Wits response

However, Patel said Wits had already engaged with external service providers on student accommodation.

“The university has already negotiated with external service providers on the issue of the R45 000 cap on accommodation as specified by NSFAS and has already secured 350 beds as emergency accommodation.”

“The university has also committed over R150 million in scholarships and bursaries, and in addition it has put forward R28 million towards the Wits Hardship Fund to enable students who can’t afford with the criteria to register and secure emergency accommodation,” Patel said.

Patel added that Wits had also matched the SRC’S R6 million it raised through fundraising with its own R6 million.

“Effectively the university has put forward R190 million to support students and to help them to register,” Patel said.

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