Urgent Call for evicted students
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UPM media
May 28, 2021, 9:53:20 AM5/28/21
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Call for support for evicted Makhanda TVET students
The Unemployed Peoples’ Movement (UPM) calls for solidarity and support for a group of 45 Eastcape Midlands TVET college students, who were evicted yesterday and moved into the college parking lot.
At 11pm last night (Thursday 27 May), the students called the UPM who had to hire a house with two outside rooms for the students after the college called the police to evict them from the parking lot.
After the police evicted the young students onto the pavement, they further warned the students that unless they dispersed into the night, they would all be arrested and held in custody even though they had an exam to write today.
This college has no accommodation for students who have to rent privately. However, the students were not able to pay their landlords because of maladministration between the college and NSFAS. The landlords were finally unable to wait any longer for rent and evicted the students yesterday.
Today, the UPM held a four hour meeting with the college management to get to the bottom of the problem and to arrange emergency accommodation. The students have received messages and notices on their NSFAS portals that they have been approved for funding but the college has delayed in registering them, and so they cannot pay the funds. Some students were also told that because the college lost one of their exam papers, they didn’t get a full set of results and were seen by the NSFAS system as having failed the year (thus ineligible for funding). At the meeting, the Student Support manager of the college, Reverend Lithemba Busakwe repeatedly said the college would not leave the students stranded and that it had committed to helping them with accommodation. However, by the end of the meeting the Reverend had reneged on this promise and said it was up to “community organisations” like the UPM to care for the students.
The UPM has no funding at all and is now in debt to the providers of the house and the food for the stranded students. We have arranged for the students to continue to stay in this emergency accommodation for a few more days. We therefore appeal for urgent and emergency donations to help us cover these costs:
Capitec
Savings account
B. Budaza
Grahamstown branch
Account no: 1465286770
The students, who are from as far away as Mthatha, wrote an exam today and will write again on 4 June. They had not eaten any food for more than 24 hours.
The Unemployed Peoples’ Movement (UPM) calls for solidarity and support for a group of 45 Eastcape Midlands TVET college students, who were evicted yesterday and moved into the college parking lot.
At 11pm last night (Thursday 27 May), the students called the UPM who had to hire a house with two outside rooms for the students after the college called the police to evict them from the parking lot.
After the police evicted the young students onto the pavement, they further warned the students that unless they dispersed into the night, they would all be arrested and held in custody even though they had an exam to write today.
This college has no accommodation for students who have to rent privately. However, the students were not able to pay their landlords because of maladministration between the college and NSFAS. The landlords were finally unable to wait any longer for rent and evicted the students yesterday.
Today, the UPM held a four hour meeting with the college management to get to the bottom of the problem and to arrange emergency accommodation. The students have received messages and notices on their NSFAS portals that they have been approved for funding but the college has delayed in registering them, and so they cannot pay the funds. Some students were also told that because the college lost one of their exam papers, they didn’t get a full set of results and were seen by the NSFAS system as having failed the year (thus ineligible for funding). At the meeting, the Student Support manager of the college, Reverend Lithemba Busakwe repeatedly said the college would not leave the students stranded and that it had committed to helping them with accommodation. However, by the end of the meeting the Reverend had reneged on this promise and said it was up to “community organisations” like the UPM to care for the students.
The UPM has no funding at all and is now in debt to the providers of the house and the food for the stranded students. We have arranged for the students to continue to stay in this emergency accommodation for a few more days. We therefore appeal for urgent and emergency donations to help us cover these costs:
Capitec
Savings account
B. Budaza
Grahamstown branch
Account no: 1465286770
The students, who are from as far away as Mthatha, wrote an exam today and will write again on 4 June. They had not eaten any food for more than 24 hours.
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