The University of Witwatersrand (Wits) has issued multiple suspension orders to students who are judged to transgressed the university’s rules. This comes after days of protests concerning financial exclusion and the ongoing housing issues plaguing the institution.
The Wits Students’ Representative Council (SRC) said they will shut down the campus on Friday as protesting students vowed to intensify their protest until their grievances are addressed.
Here Is What The SRC Is Demanding
- all students owing R150,000 or less must be allowed to register for the 2023 academic year
- Waiving of the R10,000 upfront fee for Wits residences and for students to be allowed to move in
- The university to allocate an additional R30 Million towards the Hardship Accommodation to secure more beds for homeless students
- For all recipients of the Hardship Fund to be allowed to register without paying the residual amount
The Wits SRC are also calling for the immediate scrapping of the accommodation allowance cap introduced by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) in 2023.
Nsfas introduced an accommodation allowance cap of R45,000 to manage the unregulated costs of student accommodation and combat profiteering and price collusion by private student accommodation providers.
Wits say protesting students disrupted the academic programme on Thursday, 2 March 2023. The academic programme and other university activities continued after protestors were removed on Thursday afternoon with both in-person and online learning taking place.
The university says the disruptors moved into the Braamfontien area where shops were looted, streets were blocked and property was damaged. They are now working to identify these perpetrators and will exercise legal action against them.
The Legal Office will continue to work through the evidence submitted by the Wits community to ensure that perpetrators who can be identified, are charged.
Wits acknowledged that several of the perpetrators who committed infractions during the protests were financially excluded from the institution. They explained that some of these students had lost their funding and are not demanding registration despite not receiving funding.
Some had failed multiple times, had lost their funding and were now demanding to be registered
Wits thanked members of the campus community for their patience and cooperation during what they described as a frustrating time for the university community.
