The Student Representative Council (SRC) at Unisa in Durban has threatened to bring the institution to a standstill if their complaints are not addressed urgently.
A delegation from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was on Thursday expected to meet Unisa students over the issues of funding.
This followed the closure until further notice of the Durban campus after violent protests earlier this week.
However, the meeting did not happen, sparking further protests.
Police used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the students.
President of the SRC at Unisa Zandile Sodladla says, “And we, as student leaders, are very tired. We are at the point where we cannot even hold ourselves any longer. That is why we have seen this chaos that has been happening striking. Anarchy is the only word that they understand. So, we are going to show them anarchy so that they can solve the issues of the students. Really, thousands of students that are waiting for NSFAS and it’s not fair … so, we are waiting for them to say this is what we are saying. We are taking responsibility as the institution. But at a national level, rest assured if NSFAS does not answer we are going to have a national shutdown.”
Meanwhile, Sasco secretary in the Durban region Thabo Tsheme says students are increasingly becoming victims of criminal activities in the city.
This follows a recent incident in which a female student was stabbed to death while being robbed of her phone and money.
“We are saying students are unsafe on the road and the society is unsafe on the road because police are focusing on unarmed students and people who are not even harmful to the police, who are just singing. We are not going to tolerate this. So, we are calling all students in Durban central region that Friday they must leave their books, get whatever they can get and come to assist comrades of Unisa. We are going to gather here in Unisa. We are going to move around the town to make sure that we clean and make sure that anyone who is associated with those who have killed our student. We are going to resolve that.”
