Unisa students clash with police over unpaid study grants
Streets of Durban turn into battle field
Angry University of South Africa (Unisa) students ran rampant through the Durban city centre yesterday‚ stoning cars and overturning bins during a stand-off over fees.
They marched from Unisa’s Durban campus to the city hall, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. But the police caught up with them when they arrived at the ANC’s provincial office‚ and forced them to disperse.
They hurled stones at riot police who returned the favour with rubbers bullets‚ teargas and stun grenades.
Discord stems from the students who had not received their National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) study grants for the 2018 year‚ and could not commence with their academic year.
The development sparked clashes between students and police‚ which saw running battles at the central Durban campus on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the SRC (Student Representative Council) threatened a “national shutdown” of the university should the NSFAS funding crisis remain unresolved.
Unisa’s national SRC president Zandile Sodladla said thousands of students had not received study grants‚ preventing registration.
Close to 80 000 students enrol annually in the correspondence institution in KwaZulu-Natal.
Riot police remained on high alert yesterday ahead of a planned march by the students through the city today. –