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Tuks students give Nzimande until Monday to ensure registration of first-year students

Blade Nzimanda
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A group of University of Pretoria students has given Minister of Higher Education Dr Blade Ndzimande until Monday to make sure all first-year students are registered.

They marched to the Department of Higher Education headquarters in Pretoria, where they handed over a memorandum of demands.

They’re also demanding an immediate end to students financial exclusion and the extension of the academic year, among others.

The action today is a demonstration against the injustice of NSFAS and DHET that they’re placing on students. They’re are saying that they don’t have enough funds to fund students but they’re allowing them to apply. That is now putting students in more and more debt. So what we are here for is the debt that they put us in last year by funding us and in the middle of the year stop funding us,” laments UP SRC President, Lerato Ndlovu.

Pretoria university students demand clarity on funding:

Senior official in the Department of Higher Education, Lulama Mbombo, received the students’ memorandum.

“So minister definitely, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to listen to you even the deputy minister as well. After I gathered this my brothers and sisters the minister will be making an announcement so I am pleading with you to let me accept the memorandum, he’s asked me to accept. And I will today,  handover to him,” Mbombo says.

Appeal for calm

Nzimande has called for calm at universities to allow the process of placing students and paying their fees to unfold unhindered.

During a media briefing earlier, the Minister said the government has agreed to prioritise funding for all deserving first-year students.

Dismissing suggestions that the protests have forced government to release more funds for NSFAS, Nzimande said after experiencing a shortfall for the 2021 academic year,  his department resolved to release more funding to help deserving students.

Cabinet to reprioritise students’ funding:

The Minister also decried police brutality following the shooting of Mthokozisi Ntumba and two student journalists during the Wits University protests in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, yesterday.

The 35-year-old Ntumba lost his life in the fracas while two student reporters are recuperating.

 

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