POLOKWANE – Students received a notification on Tuesday morning informing them their Wizit money will be divided into two pockets, one for meal expenses and one for other expenses.
The money allocated for meal expenses, however, can only be used to buy food from the university cafeteria.
This caused an outcry from students who are unhappy with the new system as the food sold at the cafeteria, they say, is too expensive compared to food from other sources such as grocery stores.
Read more: Students disrupt classes at University of Limpopo
EFF Student Council (SC) and Student Representative Council (SRC) President, Daniel Mongalo, said it was unacceptable for the students to be forced to spend money to buy food they can’t afford. He said they have been in negotiations with the cafeteria management for the past two years about reducing the cost of food at the cafeteria but they have not made any headway.
“We decided to advocate for an undivided Wizit and have our money paid into one pocket so individuals can decide where they want to buy because at the end of the day we are the ones who pay this loan so we should be the ones deciding where we want to use it,” Mongalo said.
He added they have had a discussion with the university management to explain they do not want their Wizit money divided into two pockets which is why they were upset about the change.
“We were never informed our money will be divided, we only received SMS notifications on Tuesday informing us of the change and the money was already divided. In some instances students haven’t even received all the money they were supposed to after the money was divided,” Mongalo added.
He said the student leadership decided until they receive a notification telling them their money is back the way they want it they will do a stay-away with no one attending class, no assignments being submitted and no tests written. They say they are angry with the university management about making the decision without consulting them first and the only way they can get their message heard is to have a stay-away that will hurt management the same way they hurt them until the matter is resolved.
Unilim Executive Director: Marketing and Communications, Kgalema Mohuba, said the university will not issue any statement until they have engaged with the student representative council.
