Police maintained a strong presence as around 150 students gathered outside the East Cape Midlands College on Tuesday 13 August.
Police maintained a strong presence as around 150 students gathered outside the East Cape Midlands College on Tuesday 13 August.
Students at the fringe of the group said they were meeting about the fact that for some of the students, bursaries from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) had been discontinued.
"Now we have nowhere to live," one young woman who said she was a student, but refused to be identified, said.
Grocott's Mail has previously reported that bursaries are paid directly to the institution, which pays accommodation establishments directly on behalf of the beneficiaries. According to the rules of the bursary scheme, continued payment of the bursaries is dependent on students' results.
South African Students Congress (Sasco) political educator and student Matthew Mkeleni, whom Grocott's Mail interviewed in February regarding problems with student accommodation ('College students march 8km in N2 res rumpus', Grocott's Online Tuesday 5 February), addressed students inside the College grounds.
Minutes earlier he had referred questions from Grocott's Mail to 'Sasco leadership'. "I cannot speak on behalf of Sasco. The leadership will come and speak to you," he said.
Asked what she thought the outcome of the meeting would be, a young woman standing outside who would not be identified said, "I think we are going to strike." The meeting was still in progress at 6pm.
