Academic activities have been suspended at Motheo TVET College, Hillside View campus in Bloemfontein.
Students have been demonstrating at the main gate of the college over the payment of NSFAS allowances. They are demanding their allowances.
Disgruntled students claim that they don’t have food and they are facing evictions from their landlords. They say the college should play its role as the middleman between them and the scheme.
They are accusing management of dragging its feet.
Leader of disgruntled Motheo TVET College students, Nontsokolo Sani says, “We are facing challenges of NSFAS allowances being delayed, so we have made the college aware of our grievances that students are being evicted students don’t have anything to eat, and we struggle to come to school.”
Other students have echoed Sani’s sentiments. One student says, “The SRC is busy saying we should vote for them and they are not even here to assist us with our issues.” “The app is delaying the pin, and so students are unable to get their money,” explains another one.
The college says it had meetings with the student leaders, and that about half of all students on campus have received their allocations.
Motheo TVET Spokesperson Thabiso Mofokeng says, “Out of 400 registered students at the Hillside View campus, already 200 have received their allowances from NSFAS and as we speak currently, we also had a meeting today with students to explain that NSFAS is currently processing their payments. with the remaining 200 students will receive their allowances in due course.”
On the flip side of the coin. A passer-by campaigner of the African Congress for Transformation who took advantage of the students’ gathering, handed out his party T-shirts.
It was not long after he had left when students started fire to burn the T-shirts.
