Some Wits University students have joined the countrywide protests over historical debt and unaffordable student accommodation.
Scores of students, staff and visitors were turned away at the Yale Road North and Empire Road entrances of Wits University on the morning of March 1, 2023, as a group of students led by the student representative council (SRC) used their bodies, plastic road barriers and rubbish to block entry.
The attempted shutdown is aimed at addressing a number of students who have been unable to register due to existing debt and those without accommodation. Many can not afford the rentals charged at some university residences and private off-campus residences alike, forcing them to take shelter in libraries, toilet stalls and other unsuitable spaces.
When approached by Wits Vuvuzela, some members of the SRC were reluctant to speak on the record but said their demands to management had not been met and the shutdown would be in place until they were. In an interview with eNCA, deputy secretary of the SRC, Vuyiswa Mochochoko said, “over 10 000 students” have been financially excluded and are in need of assistance to continue with their studies.
In a statement, the university said the protest came as a “surprise” as they had been working with the SRC up to a few hours before the protest to assist qualifying students with their registration. “Wits has matched the R6,2 million brought in by the SRC rand for rand. In effect, there is a pot of R12,4 million available in the SRC Fund for qualifying students,” the statement says.
The university added that 36 200 students (96% of the student population) have successfully registered for the academic year and R28 million raised through the Wits Hardship Fund has been used to assist with some of these registrations and to provide emergency accommodation.
While the SRC is demanding that all students with debt below R150 000 be allowed to register, these are the concessions the university has made so far:
- allowing students who owe R10 000 or less to register,
- allowing students whose total household income is below R600 000 to apply for registration assistance by paying 50% of the outstanding debt due and by making an arrangement to pay the balance of the debt during the course of the academic year, and
- allowing students who owe R15 000 or less to graduate.
The protesters disrupted lectures and assessments, which may prompt the need to move online if the situation on the ground continues.
“We were supposed to write a test today and we couldn’t write it and I studied for it and I planned and now like the whole week is like, was a waste, all my studying. I’m really mad that we didn’t get to write that test and now we have to do it next week but we have another test next week so you know, I was very upset about that. Yeah, no, its going to be so stressful,” said Isabella Pedra, a second-year Bsc occupational therapy student.
Shannon Henning, a second-year BSc student told Wits Vuvuzela that, “I feel like if it was more peaceful more people would join them but I feel like when there’s vandalism, like the whole Yale Road is covered in litter now and I’m like, if I was a student I don’t wanna be represented by that. I would rather join something that’s peaceful than something where you’re breaking things and you’re littering everywhere, I don’t wanna be associated with that type of protest action.”
As reported by Wits Vuvuzela earlier this year, several universities and technical vocational education and training colleges have seen protests over the same issues being raised by the Wits SRC.
FEATURED IMAGE: A protesting student holds up a placard which reads, “We must register” on March 1, 2023. Photo: Mpho Hlakudi
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- Wits Vuvuzela, Another academic year, another round of protests, February 2023
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- Wits Vuvuzela, ‘End financial exclusion!’ – Wits SRC alumni, September 2022
