Incensed TVET college students of the Tshwane South College in Pretoria West shut down their institution on Thursday morning to highlight the plight of accommodation fees which has bedevilled them in recent months.
The students blocked the gates of the campus early in the morning with intent to disrupt all learning activities at the institution.
Their plight was sparked by NSFAS’ decision to pay an extra amount of R10 000 into their bank accounts without informing them that the extra money had to be used as payment to their respective landlords at various private accommodation places.
According to Tshwane EFF Youth Command Sub Region 3 Co-ordinator Elvis Chiwawa, students received a total amount of R13 800 (Thirteen thousand eight hundred rand) from NSFAS recently and because this was unusual, they made enquiries to the NSFAS regarding what the purpose of the extra R10 000 was.
“In response, NSFAS informed us that the money was meant for the students’ personal use, so in turn we told students that they can use it for their personal needs, but 2 weeks thereafter NSFAS did an about-turn and informed us that R10 000 of the money actually had to be paid to the landlords who are housing students at their private premises,” said Chiwawa.
“NSFAS also released a statement whereby it indicated that students must pay R10 000 of the R13 800 that they received from NSFAS to their landlords or else they will be evicted from their accommodation premises for failure to pay for their stay there, and that alternatively the money will be deducted from their monthly allowances,” he said.
“We agreed with NSFAS that the accommodation money that the students have chowed will be deducted in the form of installments, but the truth of the matter is that at numerous privately-owned student residencies students don’t have transport to ferry them to campuses, are bathing in cold water and the Wi-Fi system doesn’t work, all this because service providers assert that they don’t have money as NSFAS has not paid them for their services,” he said.
“Service providers are adamant that NSFAS has given students money and that students have chowed the money instead of paying the money over to them, but where does NSFAS think students will get money to repay their debt?,” he asked.
He revealed that they as EFF Youth Command arrived late at the college and failed to stop all daily activities there, including preventing all students from getting into the campus to write their exams.
“Let those students who are writing their exams continue to do so but we will make arrangements with the management of the school for the students who couldn’t write their exams today to do so in the near future as they had joined us in the protest action,” said Chiwawa.
Chiwawa wasn’t sure as to how long the shutdown of the college would last, but said their aim was to shut the college down until NSFAS came down to them to sort out the accommodation fees matter.
He sympathised with landlords for having taking drastic measures against students because they are business people who want to make a living from accommodating students in their private premises.
“Our message to the Minister of Higher Education is that she must step down because she is failing us as students and capable people must take over from her and we are concerned that as TVET students we are treated with disrespect as compared to University students,” he said.
One of the lady students at the college confessed that she and most students chowed the extra R10 000 money after NSFAS failed to explain that the money was actually meant to pay for their accommodation fees.
“Some of us come from disadvantaged backgrounds and I used the money to buy a laptop, iPhone and food and I also shared some of it with my parents who are unemployed and don’t have income,” she said.
A second lady student told Tshwane Talks that the same amount of money (R10 000) was deposited into the bank accounts of TVET students last year but no repercussions arose, but that this year NSFAS has decided to punish TVET students for a fault that has not been committed by the students.
“As students we gave assurance to NSFAS that we agreed to a scenario whereby money would be deducted from our allowances bit by bit, but what has surprised us is that NSFAS has deducted all our monthly allowances to pay the landlords, leaving us with nothing,” she lamented.
At the moment landlords have resorted to preventing students from taking away all their luggage to their respective homes during the college recess period as they are afraid that the students will abandon them without paying them debts that are due to them as landlords.