West African students unite

BRAAMFONTEIN - The West African Students Society from Wits University held a gathering to promote interacation between students.

May 10, 2016

Gaahele Mokgoro 1 minute read

Damilola MacGregor, Ladenika Abiola, Oluwaseyi Babalola, Femi Kolade and Ifeanyi Iroanya at the gathering.

The West African Students Society held a gathering in conjunction with the Zambian Students Society at the Wits Braamfontein campus, to promote interaction between students from different West African countries.

Chairperson of the West African Students Society, Oluwaseyi Babalola said that they wanted to embrace their different cultures as well as promote integration with other students on campus.

“We want to increase our membership as well as our presence on campus. This is so that we can have a bigger foot holding when we bring our issues to Senate House,” he said.

He pointed out that the gathering held on 7 May was to initiate talks about the various issues that plagued foreign students. He added that they wanted to bring those issues to the Student Representative Council (SRC).

“Last year there were xenophobic attacks that happened and some of our members were affected. We were unable to come to varsity for a number of days as we feared for our safety, so through this society we will be able to look at solutions to combat such issues,” he explained.

He added that one of the issues they wanted to bring to the forefront was the upfront payment that Wits demanded when foreign students enrolled at the university.

“We have to pay our fees as well as accommodation cost in full and this is not fair as it is a lot of money. We also have issues with our visas and we are hoping to be assisted by the university to solve these problems,” he said.

He explained that the society was involved with various charity drives and that they worked with the the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in their endeavours.

Details: Wits, 011 717 10000