TVET students evicted for non-payment

Esayidi TVET students from the Oslo Beach (Port Shepstone) campus were left homeless after they were kicked out of their place of residence by their landlord last Friday.

According to the landlord, the college had repeatedly failed to pay the students’ residential fees during the course of the year, despite numerous requests to do so from the students’ representatives and landlord to the college’s management.

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The accommodation near the college in Oslo Beach housed 119 students who are beneficiaries of the National Students’ Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The students, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, said they could not afford to pay for accommodation so they relied on the NSFAS and the college, which manages their NSFAS funds on their behalf, to make payment for the accommodation.

However, instead of paying the landlord directly, apparently the college, after having received funds from NSFAS, made cash deposits of R15 000 into more than 50 students’ accounts in July.

This led the students to abscond.

According to SRC president, Thembalihle Shusha, the college was alerted to the implications of paying students directly but again, during the September holidays, another batch of students received deposits from the college.

The remaining students were then evicted, after efforts to get the college or the students who had received the cash to pay up failed.

“You have students who come from very poor backgrounds. They have children and families to look after, so if you give them money they have never seen in their bank accounts, you really can’t expect them to do the right thing. They are likely to run away,” he said.

He added that this sabotaged their efforts, pointing out that they did not blame the landlord for evicting the students out as he, too, had bills to pay.

“The landlord has been kind enough to house us for almost a year without payment and this is the thanks he gets. Management needs to be fair and sort this issue out.”

The students, who are in the middle of their exams, have since had to find alternative accommodation, which posed a problem for those who cannot afford it.

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The landlord, David Magqaza, said he had exhausted all avenues to get the college to pay, including having taken legal action against college management.

“The whole year I have been back and forth trying to get them to pay, they have tried to pass the buck to the NSFAS offices in Cape Town.”

Mr Magqaza said he had a letter from NSFAS in his possession indicating that they had paid all college tuition and accommodation fees to the college, which was, in turn, responsible for paying for the students.

A meeting between the students’ representatives and college student support services is scheduled to take place next week.

The college’s assistant director of student support services, Xolie Migochi, directed all queries to the rector’s office, where repeated phone calls went unanswered. 

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