THE Walter Sisulu University (WSU) strike which lasted last Friday and turned violent on Monday was due to students demanding a more user friendly regulations of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, the university said.
WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said some of the students had been struggling to access the online agreement loan forms, citing it was complicated for them. She said the students embarked on a strike when some of them did not receive their allowances even though the university had submitted their results on time. They had not met the NSFAS deadline and the institution was not managing NSFAS applications.
“WSU is presently engaging student leadership in meetings to come up with mechanisms on how to approach and resolve the matter as this is an NSFAS issue. The university is unable to assess financial damage at this stage, however, cost estimates will be available once the environment is conducive for assessors to be on campus,” she said.
Tukwayo said it was difficult to say when the campus would re-open for operations as the closure had legal implications since lives of people were at stake when this decision was made. “It depends on the discussions and agreements between management and the students’ leadership to reverse the decision,” Tukwayo said. Attempts to get comment from the student leadership proved futile since yesterday. The Rep will follow up on the strike as it unfolds.