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Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Nobuhle Nkabane.
The South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) is calling for the immediate removal of the Minister of Higher Education, Nobuhle Nkabane, saying she has proven to be incompetent by not addressing challenges faced by students.
Sasco has also pointed out the department’s failure to resolve issues within National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas), which have resulted in some students not receiving their meal and accommodation allowances for months.
Sasco NEC Member Demian Mukansi says, “One of the issues that we want to raise is that we are in recess, students are at home. There are students that did not get allowances throughout the whole year. There are students that [have been] unlawfully or incorrectly de-funded. There are students who have sent in appeals and the appeals have not been responded to. There are landlords that are still complaining even today that they’ve been housing students the whole year and they’ve not been paid. These are serious issues and I don’t know what other message South Africans wants us to say for us to show them that there has been a lot of dissatisfaction in terms of how she’s handling that department.”
Mukansi says if their request is not met before the start of the second semester, they will organise mass mobilisations across institutions of higher learning.
“If the 1st of August comes and our matters have still not been resolved, what we will start to do in the university spaces, we will do our mass mobilisation. We will conscientize our students about the challenges that we are facing. And for sure a student that had no food in the first semester will definitely join in this call for a mass day of recalling,” says Mukansi.
VIDEO | Higher Education raises NSFAS allowances:
