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FILE: The South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) members during NEC meeting.
The South African Students’ Congress (SASCO) in Pretoria will this morning embark on a march, dubbed the “Mega Total Shutdown”.
Students are protesting against a number of issues, which include the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) de-funding of some students and the non-payment of accommodation fees.
Protesters are expected to gather at the Old Putco Depot in Marabastad and then march to the offices of the Higher Education and Training Department in the CBD.
Sasco National Spokesperson, Thuto Mashila, says, “In terms of universities, it’s a repeated system failure of Nsfas with the de-funding of students in the middle of the year.”
“We have students who were funded in January, they received their status saying that they were funded, but now are getting de-funded by Nsfas and their registration data so that they can receive their allowances has not been transferred from universities to Nsfas, and this of course, harms the academic performance of students.”
Mashile adds, “ Accommodation service providers have not been paid yet by Nsfas for the debt of last year. So some agreed to help students, but Nsfas still has not paid them.”
PODCAST: Interview with Mashile on SAfm’s First Take on Sasco’s march:
