10 South Cape College students in court after protest action

Update

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Ten South Cape TVET College students of the Mossel Bay Campus were released on bail following their appearance in the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court today, 20 March.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Chris Spies said these students, aged between 19 and 36, were arrested last night, 19 March, on a charge of public violence.

There had been a protest, which started yesterday morning by a group of about 50 students outside the entrance to the campus, about claims that accommodation funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) had decreased from R42 640 per annum to just R25 000 per annum.

Some students previously told Mossel Bay Advertiser that they had struggled to obtain clear answers as to why the decrease had taken place, and said they would continue the protest until they received clarity on the matter.

At about 12:00 yesterday, stun grenades were fired by members of the Public Order Police. One person was arrested on charges relating to road traffic legislation.

Singing
The students returned to the entrance of the campus at about 16:30 yesterday. One of them, Yamkelani Memani, said they were just singing outside the campus entrance after that time, but just before 19:30, a police officer approached him and another student to ask if they would accompany him into the campus to see if any students were inside.

Memani said they obtained permission from the college and then went around the campus.

“When we came back out, it was getting dark. The officers told us to disperse and gave us five minutes to do so,” said Memani.

“I told everyone we should leave. Many started leaving, but a few stayed behind and threw rocks or sticks in the direction of the police.”

Stun grenades
Memani said the police then discharged their stun grenades and all the students, even the ones already making their way home, ran off in all directions, some taking cover in bushes.

Memani alleged that the students whom the police had arrested were not the same ones who had allegedly thrown rocks or sticks.

He said he and several other students are looking for the people who allegedly threw these objects. “If those students had not acted that way, we wouldn’t even have been here at the court today.”

Memani was not one of the students arrested, but was one of several ones who had come to the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court to support those who had.

Another student, who asked not to be named, said the protest would continue until NSFAS came to meet with all the students, face to face.

The 10 arrested students were released on bail on condition that they are not involved in any public violence or any criminal activities until the matter is finalised in court.

The case was postponed to 8 May for further investigation.

Meeting
A South Cape TVET College Student Representative Council (SRC) member for the Mossel Bay Campus, who asked not to be named, said a virtual meeting was held today between 09:00 and 11:00.

She said the meeting included a representative of NSFAS, the South Cape TVET College’s heads and some SRC members from the six campuses: Mossel Bay, George, Bitou, Beaufort West, Oudtshoorn and Hessequa.

The member alleged that they had been told by the NSFAS representative that the students could continue to protest, but that the allowance would remain the same. She said the SRC’s questions surrounding the decrease had gone unanswered.

South Cape TVET College responds
In response to questions Mossel Bay Advertiser had sent the South Cape TVET College, it said it had received a circular from NSFAS via email on 7 March that stated: “NSFAS does not regulate the unaccredited space, because ethically, we should not be allowing students to reside in ‘unaccredited’ properties. By ‘unaccredited’, this refers to properties that are not accredited by both NSFAS or institutions. These properties will only be utilised, where there are no bed spaces in institutional or NSFAS accredited providers in that area. The cap for unaccredited properties is R25 000 annually.”

The South Cape TVET College said it had started issuing this communique to the students across all the campuses from Monday, 10 March, via several communication channels. It said on the same day, the campus head visiting each class and informed the students of it, and on 14 March, a meeting was held at the Mossel Bay Campus, where the circular from NSFAS was relayed to the students as well.

The college said a virtual meeting was held on 18 March with NSFAS officials, college and campus management, bursary officials, SRCs, and three delegates from each campus representing the student protesters.

The college said the students had expressed dissatisfaction with the responses provided by the NSFAS officials regarding the cap amount of R25 000 per annum for unaccredited properties, and that they had requested to have a face-to-face meeting with NSFAS’s management staff.

This request the college management and the SRC passed on to NSFAS, and a meeting was scheduled for today, 20 March.

Meeting feedback
The college said the outcome of today’s meeting was that the annual cap amount for unaccredited accommodation would be R25 000 per annum, and that NSFAS had conducted research across the higher education system to determine this amount.

It said the NSFAS budget is decreasing annually.

“Current and new landlords are encouraged to register on the NSFAS Student Accommodation Provider Application (Portal): www.nsfas.org.za/content/accommodationprovider.html to become accredited according to the accreditation criteria which is linked to different gradings A-E for monthly and annual rates and is also available on the NSFAS online website,” said the college.

It said a joint initiative between the college and NSFAS has been launched to conduct face-to-face workshops with landlords during the next few weeks, to assist, educate and guide them to register on the NSFAS online portal so that the NSFAS accreditors can do physical verification at the landlords’ properties to assess within which grading each one falls.

The Advertiser is still awaiting a response from NSFAS itself.

Previous articles: