Police monitor student protest at EWC campus
Students received letters informing them their bursaries would not be paying for their fees any longer
STUDENTS from Ekurhuleni West College (EWC), Kempton Park campus blockaded the facility’s entrance in protest action on Thursday afternoon.
Police presence was strong.
The students took action after receiving letters from the college informing them their bursaries would not be paying for their fees any longer.
The letters read: “Dear student, we regret to inform you that your application for the DHET FET College Bursary Scheme was unsuccessful. Your application was declined due to the following reason: DHET Bursary Funding have been exhausted/depleted for 2015.”
The letter also stated that parents/guardians would now be responsible for the payment of the students’ tuition fees.
“Most of our parents are unemployed or on pension, how are they expected to pay?” asked 24-year-old Wisdom Khoza.
Khoza said the reason why many of the students had enrolled at the institution was because of the bursary scheme that was available.
Baloyi Nhlamulo said there were around 340 students who had been told their bursaries were not approved.
“In January they said it had been approved and now in July they say it is not approved. We just want our transport money and our fees to be paid so we can write our exams and complete our studies,” said Nhlamulo.
Voli Mngomezulu (24), who is studying Engineering Related Design (ERD), said they would be shutting down the doors of the college on Friday.
“No staff will enter and no lecturers will take place,” she said.
Mngomezulu said the campus manager, known as Mr Mudau, kept promising them he would make a plan. “He says they will investigate and get back to us on Monday, we know that’s not true,” she pointed out.
Mr Mudau refused to speak to EXPRESS and said he would get into trouble if he did so.
Students said they made their way to Germiston on Wednesday afternoon to meet with the principal of the colleges, Hellen Ntlatleng.
They claim she told them the reason their bursaries were not approved was because their forms had been submitted late by their Student Support Services (SSS) office.
“She was very rude and told us she had nothing to do with the issue and that we must pay our fees before we could move to the next level,” said one of the students.
