Refugee students at Stellenbosch University (SU) are grappling with heightened xenophobia, as protests against immigrants continue across the country. In addition to this, they say, they’re at the mercy of exclusionary policies that leave refugee students living in a cycle of financial struggle and fear.
Ornela Meri, a final-year BA humanities student at SU and chairperson of the Stellenbosch University Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network (SU-RASN), is one of the 80 registered refugee students at SU.
Despite full registration, she said refugees are excluded from the university’s bursary portals, and they live in constant fear of harassment and xenophobia, which has only increased since the recent anti-immigration protests last month.
Ornela Meri, Stellenbosch University refugee student from the Democratic Republic of Congo and chairperson of the Stellenbosch University Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network, delivers an address at a talk about breaking barriers and building bridges – refugee voices of resilience and the path to belonging. PHOTO: Supplied/Hannah Mutsinze
Commenting on the support the university provides to SU-RSAN, Martin Viljoen, SU spokesperson, said: “The nodes of support are co-designed by SUI [SU International] and SU-RASN, ensuring sustainable approaches that speak to the lived experiences and needs of the students themselves. The mentioned societies form part of the Stellenbosch University Societies Council – a body under the Student Representative Council (SRC).”
A climate of fear
Since mid-April, anti-migrant marches have swept through major cities in South Africa. This escalated to a call for a national shutdown on 4 May as reported by the Daily Maverick.
Throughout April, Meri said, she had been inundated with messages about survival from fellow refugee students. “Will we be safe on campus?” they asked. “Do the people we sit next to in class actually support us, or do they side with those who want to attack us?”
“We are just 80 [refugee students],” she said at a student plenary sitting on 30 April. “But not everybody is fine.”
“The Office of the Dean of Students is not aware of any formal complaints or any concerns recently shared by either students with a refugee status or students from other African countries as it relates to possible xenophobic incidents,” said Viljoen.
In a statement issued earlier this month, SU noted that students experiencing xenophobic incidents should report them to the SU Equality Unit or to SAPS, and emphasised that “at SU everyone enjoys equal status”.
Liyema Langa, a student at SU and executive member of the Economic Freedom Fighters Youth Command (EFFYC), a registered SU society, also at the plenary sitting, said: “Universities are meant to be spaces of dignity, inclusion, and opportunity for all students. We are a community, and individuals within our community should not be left behind or made to feel invisible.”
Meri said Jack Kroukamp, the Student Representative Council (SRC) safety manager, had reached out to her for feedback during this period. Meri described the response as a gap that reflected a pattern of communication when there is an immediate threat and silence when there is not one. Kroukamp said in a statement to SMF News that if Meri or any other international students had any safety concerns, they should feel free to contact him.
Evariste Nyembwe, a 3rd year BSc computer science and refugee student at SU from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said: “It’s very sad and can be quite vexing, especially some of the scenes I’ve seen on social media. I saw someone get kicked out of the hospital because they were not from here.”
He added that the unrest makes him feel like he should just leave, and that there is no hope in South Africa.
Shut out of the system
DRC-born Meri said her first week in Stellenbosch in 2023 started like that of any other student — feeling truly welcomed, until a fee statement hit her inbox.
“When I tried to apply for the many bursaries the university offers, I hit a wall. None of the portals would even allow me to enter; I was ineligible simply because I was a refugee student,” said Meri. She said it was depressing to realise that, despite being in South Africa since 2009, when she was six-years-old, she was not “from” here according to the system.
In 2024, Meri was forced to pause her degree for a semester because she could not secure funding. She is now completing her third year.
As chairperson of SU-RASN, Meri has heard the same story from her 80 peers. Beyond the bursary wall, a second barrier exists: employment, where refugees often face discrimination when applying.
“We need to prove our existence every minute,” said Meri
In a statement on 11 May, SU confirmed that “certain bursaries are indeed only for South African citizens”. It pointed to support structures including SU International, SU-RASN, and the African Higher Education in Emergencies Network (AHEEN), which provides scholarship funding. It did not address questions about campus employment payment policy.
Meri confirmed that only nine refugee students received scholarships from the university.
This infographic depicts the number of refugee students and the number of bursaries available to refugee students, zero. It compares this with an underestimated number of students requiring financial aid. The figure (5000+) used for this approximation is from Stellenbosch University’s website. It is the number of students who require NSFAS funding, excluding other forms of financial assistance such as SU or private bursaries. Other data sourced from Ornela Meri. INFOGRAPHIC: Nerine Pienaar
Systemic problems
Katlego Matale, an SRC member and chairperson of Societies Council (SC) and International Students/Internationalisation, is tasked with supporting refugee students.
“To my knowledge, this has not been formally escalated in a sustained and structured way before, at least not during my term,” she said. The concerns of refugee students, she added, “were not explicitly outlined in depth” in her own handover.
Katlego Matale, an SRC member and chairperson of Societies Council (SC) and International Students/Internationalisation at a Stellenbosch University student plenary sitting, delivers answers on the agenda point ‘SRC support for refugee and displaced students.’ PHOTO: Supplied/Emma Giles
This is not the first term in which this gap has appeared. Meri recalled that the previous international students’ portfolio holder contacted SU-RASN only once, to ask whether the society needed food for an event.
“I cannot guarantee perfection beyond my term,” Matale said. “But what I can do is ensure that a stronger foundation is left behind than the one I entered into.”
Meri said, “The International office has been a great help and shelter to us refugees, however the SRC international portfolio managers haven’t been actively reaching out to us.”
Matale plans to create a dedicated space for refugee students to “speak for themselves”. “I think before we impose solutions, we need to create space for listening first and their input.”
“Meaningful support from the SRC would be showing opportunities refugees could take, oftentimes we see a whole lot of opportunities, and it’s just citizens, and it’s incredibly hard for refugees,” said Nyembwe.