South African protests ‘will continue without funding reform’

South Africa urgently needs to reform its student finance system to avoid further violent protests, the vice-chancellor of one of the country’s top universities has said.

Francis Petersen, who leads the University of Pretoria and is the chair of Universities South Africa (USAf), said that inefficiencies and a lack of trust in the system had contributed significantly to student unrest, which last year resulted in protests on campuses that saw some university buildings destroyed.

“We are much better at managing them, but the protests will still be there, because that’s how the students articulate their frustrations, because they would not have another way of doing that,” Petersen said.

The student finance system, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), has come under considerable criticism in recent years. Students have complained that they have either received their payments late or not at all, meaning some are left without money for food or rent.

“I never support violent actions, but if you are a human being and you’re supposed to receive a meal allowance and you haven’t received it for a month, one can imagine what sort of frustration those students have had to go through,” Petersen said. “One can understand from a humanitarian perspective, and from a [human’s] perspective, what the challenges are.”

He continued: “If nothing happens and it gets worse, then I think the protests will [continue].”

In 2018, the government announced it would provide free higher education for poor and working-class students – a policy that saw students from households with an income of under R350,000 a year (approximately £15,400) become eligible for fully funded grants for higher education. 

However, Petersen said the system is “not sustainable” and called for more means-tested repayment methods to be introduced.

“What’s going to happen is you either have to come up with a totally new system, or you have to moderate your…contributions that you give to accommodation, to meal allowances, to transport allowances, to balance what you have [with] the numbers of students,” he said.

Several NSFAS officials have quit in recent weeks, including its chair, Mugwena Maluleke.

Petersen said this may generate stronger political will for reform, adding it “puts more pressure” on the Education Department.

Despite the challenges of the last year, Petersen said he feels “very optimistic” about South African higher education moving forward.

Local government elections will soon be taking place, which he hopes will “put more pressure on the government for national unity”.

“I’m very optimistic that we will be able to not only take the sector forward, but we are able to have better relationship with stakeholders…and we are making the sector and the system in South Africa more global.”