“The recent #feesmustfall protests have brought to the fore the unequal distribution of resources in our society.
“The recent #feesmustfall protests have brought to the fore the unequal distribution of resources in our society.
This is a recipe for instability. We cannot continue to be indifferent to the plight of the poor in our society.”
These were the words of Dr Sizwe Mabizela, Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University, at a media briefing in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday ahead the start of the academic year next week.
Mabizela spoke on the theme, “The doors of learning should stay open for all”.
He said Rhodes University believed free education should be provided to poor and academically deserving students.
“We must devise financially sustainable mechanisms to fund the missing middle," Mabizela said. "These are the children of civil servants who are so heavily indebted that they cannot even access loans to finance their children’s education.
"It is critical that the government find ways to assist these children to access education. The government should prioritise funding for the higher education system.”
Universities in many parts of the country are already experiencing funding-related crises, with students also facing accommodation difficulties.
In a Facebook post on 11 February, the student movement Asinamali said, “We've quietly been watching the accommodation crisis unfold. People post about digs available for exorbitant prices – some of our parents barely earn enough to feed whole families, let alone pay rent for one person in Grahamstown.
"We've been saying the rent is too high. We don't like protesting, really we don't. But what must happen? Did the university not know that students will be coming back? Why are people sleeping in the labs?”
Most first-year students arrived last weekend for registration, when it was found that some had not yet received confirmation of funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). Around 50 students were accommodated in residences on a temporary basis, most having already been absorbed into residences where vacancies were available.
Mabizela during the press briefing said last the Scheme was centralised to their headquarters in Cape Town. This, he said, had been the largest contributor to the accommodation crisis.
“By virtue of its location, the vast majority of students at the University require accommodation – which is linked to NFSAS funding.
"For students to be allocated accommodation on campus, they must have paid a registration fee or have NFSAS approval for funding."
Delays at NSFAS in processing applications had left some students without accommodation on campus.
Last week the University also released a statement on various public platforms with a temporary resolution to the accommodation and NFSAS crisis.
The University said that through various meetings between its management, the SRC, and the Oppidan Hall Committee, a resolution had been reached.
The University instructed students to go to the Financial Aid office to sign a NSFAS loan agreement from Monday 13 February. The monthly NSFAS allowance for February would then be made available to students within 48 hours after signing the loan agreement.
Regarding protests, Mabizela strongly believes peaceful protest is everyone’s constitutional right. However, he said, “Violence will destroy our universities. We cannot and should not normalise violence and destruction.
"If we continue using violence as a legitimate form of engagement, our working class citizens will suffer the most.
"Those who can afford education will go overseas and into the private sector to access higher education and the poor will be left with nothing.”
Member of the Concerned Staff Group on the Rhodes University campus, Corinne Knowles, said protests this year were still very likely because the issues around funding had still not been addressed.
“Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I would like to believe people are going to put negotiations in the forefront this year before things are set in stone,” Knowles said.
She said she had observed that the Rhodes University code had been amended, with students now being asked to sign agreement that they would not get involved in anything that interferes with the normal activities of the University.
Last year more than 20 students were arrested during protest actions and an additional 18 were handed high court summons.
These students are expected to make court appearances in the coming weeks.
Asked about these students, Mabizela said, “Once people are arrested they are out of our control and the criminal justice system takes its course.” He said t same applied for those who had received high court summons.
“Not a single student was victimised because of their involvement in fees must fall,” Mabizela said.
Mabizela also decried the “pernicious scourge of gender-based violence at Rhodes”.
He said a task team had been appointed to look at this issue and had made recommendations on how to eradicate it, and Rhodes was currently working at implementing some of them.
“We are approaching the start of the academic year with a great deal of optimism.
We are not on opposing ends with our protesting students. We need to work together to find ways of fixing the situation while we continue with teaching and learning,” Mabizela said.
