Johannesburg – The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has become the latest casualty in the growing dissatisfaction over the new direct payment system implemented by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
As at Tuesday evening, videos and reports have surfaced online depicting the torching of the university's Pietermaritzburg campus's William O'Brien (WOB) building following weeks of student protests over the scheme’s new payment system.
The arson occurred after the university informed students that contact classes would be resuming after classes had to be held online because of unrelenting student unrest.
This was, however, not the first time that the WOB building has been torched. It was also set alight during student unrest in September 2016, after students clashed with the police.
The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, condemned the arson as well as the acts of intimidation against staff and students at the university.
“These are pure acts of criminality, and those who are behind them must be identified, shamed, and arrested, irrespective of who they are,” Nzimande said.
“Should it be established that there are students behind these criminal acts, they must be subjected to the university's internal disciplinary processes because arson, vandalism, and intimidation are counter-revolutionary, will not justify any legitimate forms of protest, and should be condemned unequivocally by all, including the students themselves.”
Nzimande called upon the UKZN Student Representative Council (SRC) to condemn the acts and work with the management of the university and law enforcement agencies to identify those behind the crimes, which he said were also meant to stop the students from pursuing their studies.
Student unrest over the NSFAS's new direct payment system implemented in June has rocked a number of institutions in the country, including the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), the University of Pretoria (UP), and the University of Limpopo.
Tensions escalated at the beginning of August when protesting students who gathered outside the department's offices in Pretoria clashed with the police, demanding an audience with Nzimande.
The crux of students' complaints about the new system was the delayed payment of student allowances and exorbitant bank charges levied by the third-party online banking parties appointed.