Several Stellenbosch University (SU) students remained dissatisfied with the apparent lack of solutions offered by the deputy minister of higher education, science and innovation (DHET), Buti Manamela, regarding the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) accommodation crisis. This is according to Mckayla Herdien, an SU student and house committee leader at Erica, an SU residence.
Manamela addressed student leaders from Stellenbosch University and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges at the Victoria Hub at SU as part of a dialogue on issues they are facing during the last week of May, SMF News reports. NSFAS’s R45 000 cap on accommodation, announced in January, was a focal-point of the discussion.
“I am here because I am greatly affected by what is greatly affecting you,” said Buti Manamela, deputy minister of higher education, science and innovation (DHET), when he addressed students in leadership from Stellenbosch University and several TVET colleges during the last week of May. PHOTO: Stefani Terblanche
Manamela claimed that some landlords were taking advantage of NSFAS by charging students accommodation fees of more than R100 000 per annum. The cap, he said, was introduced to avoid this.
Effect on students
The new cap is, however, affecting students nationwide, according to Mieshqaat Abrahams, a student leader at Northlink College. Where R45 000 is not enough to cover accommodation fees, many of their students are left homeless, she said.
More than ten SU students, consisting of student-leaders from various SU residences and political organisations such as the Democratic Alliance’s Student Organisation (DASO) and the South African Students Congress (SASCO), as well as students affected by the NSFAS accommodation cap, peacefully protested before the address.
More than ten Stellenbosch University (SU) students protested outside of the Victoria Hub and were invited to join the meeting to raise their concerns. Dr Choice Makhetha, the senior director of the Division for Student Affairs at Stellenbosch University, stated that she appreciated that students were part of the discussion and that Buti Manamela, deputy minister of higher education, science and innovation (DHET), contacted a National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) officer to come and answer students’ queries. PHOTO: Stefani Terblanche
“I feel as if a big bombshell was just dropped on us and there is no answer as to how we are going to go forward about this. Some of us genuinely don’t have plans. There is no backup,” said Florence Phiri, a second year student who lives in an SU residence, before the address.
Phiri attended the event to hear what the solutions and advice were that the deputy minister had to offer.
“[Manamela] did not give answers […] and there is nothing that students are able to do,” said Herdien in an interview with SMF News after the address.
Two months after the address, nothing had changed and students are hoping that the second semester will bring solutions, claimed Herdien and Phiri.
Lack of solutions
After the dialogue, Herdien and Tebogo Radebe, the communications officer of the Student Representative Council (SRC), argued that Manamela and Thilivhali Mukondeleli, senior manager at NSFAS, gave “surface-level answers” and did not offer solutions to the issues that students are currently facing.
In the address to the deputy minister, Masilo Silokazi, chairperson of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at Stellenbosch University (SU), claimed that out of the R32 million needed to aid SU students affected by the accommodation crisis in 2023, only R4 million has been funded. PHOTO: Stefani Terblanche
“As the SRC of SU, we have exhausted all of our options […] the institution has really tried to cover the gap that NSFAS is not willing to cover,” said Queen Majikijela, the chief financial officer of the SRC.
It was time to go “back to the drawing board” and reassess the situation to try and find new solutions, stated Majikijela.