SASCO steps in at GS College

Gert Sibande Ermelo Campus has seen its fair share of protests and unrest recently, while attempting to appease students who have not received their NSFAS grant payments, whilst others have only received partial payment. Students are also irked due to the fact that learning material allowances have not been allocated to some students, even though some have commenced with the 2021 academic year. The Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, addressed this issue, and said that NSFAS will only receiving it's first bulk of money from National Treasury in April 2021, from where they will start disbursing funds to institutions. However, the South African Students Congress (SASCO) is having none of this. SASCO has voiced its concern regarding the non-payment to TVET Colleges, and as a result many vulnerable students have been evicted from their residences. SASCO has written to the Chief Executive Officer, Andile Nongogo, requesting an urgent meeting to get a full report on the situation, and will further request to meet the DDG responsible for TVET Colleges.

“We call upon all colleges affected to speedily share their registration templates with the National Financial Aid Scheme, in order to ensure that students are not unnecessarily disadvantaged due to negligence and incompetence. We will instruct our SRCs and SAVETSA to ensure that colleges are compliant and cooperating, to speedily resolve these issues. We wish to reiterate our call that TVET Colleges deserve better quality student accommodation of the same standard as universities. This move will ensure that TVET Colleges also accredit and protect the livelihood of college students, and shield them from further abuse by landlords,” SASCO said in a statement. At the time of publication, Gert Sibande College failed to respond to enquiries.