A pattern of systematic failures, sub-par living conditions and futile protest actions

Kirsten Minnaar

For many students, the recent announcement of NSFAS’s annual accommodation cap of R45 000 has caused a wide array of emotions among students. Whether it made students anxious about their living arrangements for the coming academic year or fearful about their financial ability to continue their studies. Worse still – for many students, this cap and the subsequent demonstrations simply feel familiar. Students from poor backgrounds have been made to suffer and fight for their education for many years, with no sign of any sustainable solutions.

Student homelessness

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) set an annual cap of R45 000 on private accredited accommodation for university students, affecting approximately 6 000 UP students. The SRC participated in exchanges with NSFAS through the university to try and resolve the matter, but to no avail. Following these negotiations, they arranged a demonstration where participants slept outside the TuksRes offices on 90 Duxbury Road. The message of this demonstration was clear: no student should be left homeless because they cannot afford to pay for accommodation. On 18 February, the SRC released a statement wherein they announced a set of “temporary solutions”. This was followed by them suspending the demonstration action since the “SRC is convinced that no student shall be left unhoused”.

While this comes as a great relief to many students, student homelessness is an issue that long preceeds the NSFAS cap. In 2017, ENCA reported, “Thousands of students countrywide are homeless on campus, having to squat in an office, a library, or even toilets.” They referenced the Department of Higher Education, which estimated that “around 216 000 students are without suitable accommodation, and almost 400 000 beds are needed to meet government’s enrolment targets for 2030.”

At the time, students from multiple universities were forced to squat everywhere from university toilets to a building which has been set alight during the Fees Must Fall protests of 2015.

Living conditions

Quality of living is another student issue that has stood the test of time. Although it is easy to brush aside, poor living conditions can, at best, be an annoying inconvenience, and at worst, be a serious health hazard. The Report on the Ministerial Committee for the Review of the Provision of Student Housing at South African Universities of September 2011 found that there were widely varying standards for housing university students. A large number of accommodations were found to be sub-standard, and the lack of adequate food was noted as being a particular challenge for most students living in residences. This report formed the basis of the 2015 policy on minimum norms and standards for student housing at public universities (which forms part of the Higher Education Act). However, despite the introduction of this policy, quality of living still remains a real issue for many students. PDBY spoke to Nothando Mhaule, who lived in Apartments on Williams in 2021 and 2022, about the living conditions she experienced living in a NSFAS-accredited accommodation in Hatfield. “The living conditions are horrible. I wouldn’t recommend anyone living there at all.”

She explained that the building’s amenities were often not in working condition. “If the elevator breaks over the weekend, they don’t fix it until Monday morning, or until the house manager deems it urgent enough, and there are a lot of students. There are over a thousand students that live there. I remember last year there was a time where they came to say to us we’re using too much water, and they’re going to start making us pay for the water and that’s not in our lease[…] And I know if there’s no electricity, the water can’t run as well. Sometimes we would have no water for two to three days. How can you come to campus when there’s no water? We would struggle with stuff like that. The Wi-Fi would just disconnect when you are writing a test. I remember there was a time last year when I had an assignment and we had to get a letter to show the university that I had Wi-Fi problems.”

She also explained that administration, finances, and hidden costs were a real struggle. If they wanted to replace their microwave, they were told that it would be subtracted from their deposit, despite the fact that they were not responsible for the damages. who damaged a certain thing.

For any random person, they would just subtract it from your deposit[…] I remember the first time I got my deposit back I got R450 out of R1000.” When enquiring as to why she did not receive her full deposit back, they claimed it was because of damages that she was not responsible for. They also had to send their refund applications multiple times. “Ever since I sent my refund application there’s nothing I’ve gotten from them except the fact that the main guy I communicated with in regards to my rent and deposit has been fired, and they didn’t even explain why”.

Protest action

Student protest action in South Africa has a long and tumultuous history. The Fees Must Fall movement of 2015, in particular, comes to mind whenever the topic of student protest action is raised. This protest, where students were fighting against increasing university fees, was the biggest student protest action since apartheid ended in 1994 and resulted in an estimated amount of R800 million to R1 billion in property damage, numerous casualties, and hundreds of arrests. According to the Global Citizen, “On Oct. 23, former president Jacob Zuma announced that there would be no fee increases for 2016. The Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education and Training, whose role it is to find and create opportunities for free education at tertiary institutions, was formed soon after.”

Despite these “solutions”, protests among South African students never ceased. As recently as 2022, the UP SRC, along with other students at the university, partook in demonstrations against the University’s registration fee increases for 2023.

Free education is still not a reality in South Africa, despite endless pleas and protests from students and promises from government officials. Students are still protesting and demonstrating against the exact same issues that students fought for almost 8 years ago. For some reason, however, finding sustainable solutions and implementing actual systematic change does not seem to be a priority for those with the power to do so.

If history is to be any indication, poor students will continue to suffer in the ways that they have done in the past. Progress is either slow or non-existent, and promises for change never quite seem to come to fruition. Poor students have to endure endless challenges, from the threat of homelessness and terrible living conditions, to dealing with historical debt in the midst of perpetually increasing university fees. Student demonstrations and protests only end with temporary or inadequate solutions – or no solutions at all. At best, students who participate get a false feeling of enacting change, and at worst, are left feeling even more hopeless than before. No matter how much time changes, the same sentiment seems to remain true: no one cares about poor students.