Wits working to ensure students who qualify to continue their studies are registered
The university said it had managed to get 95% of its students registered.
Wits University's great hall. Picture: Twitter/ Supplied
JOHANNESBURG - Wits University's management says it is working with students to make sure that all those who qualify to continue their studies are registered.
The institution was responding to the ongoing student hunger strike that started four days ago.
Many of the protesting students are facing financial exclusion due to historical debt.
The university explained that it was currently assisting qualifying students to access funding opportunities.
The university said it had managed to get 95% of its students registered.
This translates to around 37,000 students.
It, however, said that those who had not registered yet and had debt exceeding R10,000 would need to pay 50% of that amount in order to register.
Wits spokesperson, Shirona Patel, said that they were still going to allocate more of the funds they had available.
"What we have done is we have worked with the SRC, they have raised R2.5 million in the last two weeks and we have matched those funds, so there’s about R5 million which can still be allocated to students in need. The Wits Hardship Fund is at the end of making its allocations and that’s about R100 million, which will assist students to register and to find emergency accommodation."
Patel added that students benefitting from the hardship fund could get up to R50,000 each.