Student accommodation and debt at the centre of protests on East London campuses

Students from two institutions of higher learning in East London have been protesting for days against lack of accommodation, problems with registration, outstanding allowances and financial exclusions. Students from the University of Fort Hare in East London, led by the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC) protested against what they call “the institution’s management handling of the accommodation crisis, financial exclusion and registration of final year students”. Less than five kilometres away, Buffalo City TVET College students were also protesting against similar issues.

University of Fort Hare

‘Some sleeping
in fuel stations’

The EFFSC secretary, Azole Ntloko said there is a housing shortage on campus with a large number of students not allocated to residences: “Some students here are from outside town and other provinces – they are sleeping in fuel stations as we speak. Some are expected to pay their own rent in Quigney and they can’t afford R2,000. We are also concerned about their safety, especially the first years. Some students are still at home while classes are in progress.”

Ntloko said some first year students were turned away by the institution because academic programmes were said be full despite the acceptance letters they received and the registration fees they have paid. “The issue is that the process to pay back these registration fees to the student is very long; they may be paid only at the end of the year. But we don’t want refunds, we expect the university to accommodate these students,” she said.

One of the affected students, Zolisa Billy Klass described Fort Hare’s management as arrogant: “What is happening here is that we are being denied access to education. Many students, especially final year students left with one only module, are unable to register because we must pay our debts. I am owing the institution more than R85,000 including R45,000 in fees from previous years but the debt threshold is only R30,000 and for post-graduates it is R50,000 – so, we have to find our own way to reduce debt to that amount.”

He said Nsfas (the National Student Financial Aid Scheme) had communicated with the institution that previously unfunded students must be allowed to register: “We are dealing with a very arrogant management that is not willing to listen especially to something that is coming from a student political organisation. We have been engaging them about the debt threshold, that it must be at least eighty thousand.”

Klass said some of these students were deregistered by Nsfas last year. “Many student were defunded in the middle of the year. More than four thousand students from Forth Hare alone were defunded, so the debt is emanating from that. I do not think the university was ready for the registration this year because it commenced before us as general students knew about it, because usually they present a concession and then we deliberate if they include student needs,” he said.

Klass said students who could not register automatically don’t have accommodation: “I am also affected by the issue of accommodation because you need to be registered to be allocated accommodation. The residence department said we must find a way of finding our own [accommodation]. The majority of Fort Hare students are coming from disadvantaged backgrounds – how can we afford places?”

The university had not responded to questions sent to them, though spokesperson J.P. Roodte had promised to respond

Buffalo City TVET College

Esethu Tyokolo, chairperson of the South African Student Congress and a N4 student in financial management, said they were faced with a crisis: “Classes commenced in January while Nsfas allowances were not paid out; some students’ registration have not been processed, some are provisionally accepted. Due to that students are without accommodation; returning students have been chased away by their landlords due to outstanding rental. All we could do was to negotiate with the landlords but they have only agreed to accommodate the provisionally accepted ones, leaving many without shelter.”

Tyokolo said the management and the EFF Student Command, which is leading all campuses of the college, were not making any efforts to resolve the accommodation matter. He said returning students who were supposed to progress were rejected by Nsfas this year and left in limbo. “There are outstanding payments as well; there are students who were supposed to get outstanding allowances by the end of the year but they have not received their monies and they now fall under the disadvantaged group,” Tyokolo said.

‘I am suspended but I
will not be silenced’

Ntombivelile Njobeni, also a student at the college, said the management is silencing them. “I am suspended by the institution but I will not be silenced. I have written to Mr Letsie who is the chairperson of the portfolio committee at the Department of Higher Education to seek his support in overturning my suspension, which is unjust, and for the college to address our concerns,” she said.

During the protests, the students refused to be photographed for fear of victimisation by the institution. Njobeni said the college had not submitted the current academic year registration data to Nsfas, which was the cause of much of their distress.

The higher education department media liaison, Fanie Ngoma said the department was aware of the matter. “Yes the department is aware and is working with Nsfas to resolve the issues. Some Nsfas officials are at the institutions attending to students individually,” he said.