No end in sight for Unisa shutdown

The protest entered its fifth day on Friday after talks between management and the Student Representative Council (SRC) deadlocked on Thursday.

The students accuse Unisa of not having registered qualifications with the South Africa Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and are also calling for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) to substitute the textbook allowances for laptops.   

Unisa spokesperson Martin Ramotshela says the university will enforce the law to ensure that non-protesting students are able to access its various campuses from Monday.

"We will invoke the law as far as we can to ensure that come Monday people can access the campus, without hindering anybody." 

Ramaotshela says the students’ ire is misdirected.

"People have invoked the shutdown on the basis of demands they should be taken elsewhere, with Nsfas and any other body. As a university, we can only make decisions on those things that are in our direct control.”

Unisa national SRC member Amukelani Ngwenya has accused the university of negotiating in bad faith and attempting to intimidate students. 

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"We are simply negotiating in bad faith, they were just intimidating us and we are going to continue with the shutdown on Monday." 

Ngwenya added the university attempt to interdict the protest is just a way of intimidating the students and taking away their rights.

"It's constitutional, given that we must strike if we are not happy with the services of the university and how they treat us." 

The SRC has vowed to continue with the shutdown until their demands are met.