Residences angers students
THE management of Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) is uncertain about lucid state policies governing funding of private accommodation, in the process leaving many students homeless.
Just as protesting students were dispersing yesterday, one of TUT’s executives told Sowetan that funds from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) cannot be used to pay for private off-campus residences.
“Our focus currently as management is to accommodate our students in the university residences,” said Ezekiel Moraka, acting senior deputy vice-chancellor responsible for student affairs and extracurricular development.
“That’s the policy of NSFAS – that students should stay within the university residences.”
But the shortage of oncampus residences was the main grievance of the students who protested at the university’s Pretoria campus yesterday.
The fact that TUT stopped paying private residences from NSFAS allocation made things worse for students.
This meant that even if a student was funded by NSFAS, they had to pay for their private accommodation. The institution’s residences only accommodate a portion of its 60 000 students.
“Students from villages and townships come with distinctions and get NSFAS, but they don’t have residences,” said Gift Mashinini, a student leader. “It is evident that NSFAS in TUT does not pay for private accommodation. This is the strong stance of the university.”
Due to the shortage of university-owned residences, a number of institutions are now allowing private residences to accommodate their students.
These private residences need to be accredited to ensure that students stay in safe places. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) last year accredited 142 private residences.
Asked why he thought institutions like UJ were doing this, Moraka said: “Well, I don’t have the details of what’s happening at UJ. I can only respond to our situation.”
Moraka conceded that TUT had not accredited any of the private residences housing its students.
“At this stage we don’t have accreditation policies. So, we don’t accredit any private residences,” he said.
“We can only accredit private residences provided we have a policy in place. The university is weighing [up] that possibility.”
He shifted the blame to the NSFAS for TUT’s lack of accreditation policies, saying the funding scheme still had a draft policy.
But, NSFAS spokesman Kagisho Mamabolo said it was not true that they were creating an accommodation accreditation policy.
“Remember, NSFAS is not an accommodation provider but a funder. How can we provide accommodation policies as NSFAS?”
Mamabolo denied that it prohibited payment of private residences with NSFAS funds. Institutions can accredit private residences based on their own policies, he said.
“Some universities say ‘give us funding and we’ll go and pay for those students’. Indeed, we pay the institutions and the institution pays private accommodation providers.”