The revised letter of demands by the student body to the Vice-Chancellor.

Greetings fellow leaders.

We found the address by the Vice Chancellor held on Friday 19th March 2021,
to be dissatisfactory. Dr. Mabizela failed to engage on the demands
submitted to his office. The disregard and downplaying of the national
movement, indicates the relationship that the University has with the SRC
as well as the student body. The University is detached from pertinent
student issues to the extend of deeming them as an “inconvenience”.

Revised letter of demands.

Following the slight developments due to the address and recent communique,
the SRC convened a meeting with members of EFFSC, SASCO and student body to
discuss the revision of our demands. The below is the list of our latest
demands as per the above mentioned:
1. We maintain our request to the university to delay the academic year
until 29th of March 2021.
 A recommended alternative, should the University be unable to meet this
demand, is to clear all students for registration. We propose for
assessments to commence two weeks after the start of the academic year.
Definition of all: Students who have historical debt.
   : Students who are awaiting NSFAS/NRF or any funding confirmation.
   : Students who are unable to pay their IFP.
   : G20s who received unfavorable NSFAS appeal responses as they entered
the University space during an unprecedented time.
   : International students who are unable to meet the MIP requirements.
Failure by the University to meet the above based on adamancy of starting
the academic year, learning material allowances should be paid out
immediately. This will, at the very least, allow for students to engage in
online academic activities and for no student to be left behind.
2. The late registration fee should be waived.
3. As promised by Dr. Mabizela, the issuing of allowances will continue
from Tuesday, March 23rd. We’d like to highlight to the University a
potential oversight on their side. This includes but is not limited to:
(a) Allowance disbursement to students who are still awaiting their NSFAS
appeal outcome due to supplementary examinations.
4. We commend the University for issuing permits to 227 international
students. Our stance on provision of data for international students
stands. The University must provide data for international students who
have not yet been invited back to campus. As a resolute proactive
leadership, we had suggested to the University that they make use of the
International Levy to buy data for international students.

Our plan of action.

In his address, the Vice-Chancellor failed to articulate the “creative
ways” in which LLB, PGCE and DipAcc students will be funded. Amongst other
things, he also failed to elaborate on what a “slow delayed approach”
entails. To this effect, we have decided that the Executive body of the SRC
will request a meeting with Senior Management to negotiate the progressed
demands. The SRC will submit an agenda item which speaks to the pertinent
student issues to prevent the structure of the address reoccurring.
We have had further engagements with SAUS and the Minister of Higher
Education and Training regarding the way forward. We will continue with our
physical and virtual #RUASENZINEX movement from today. The student body is
requested to attend a briefing at 09:00am by the Arch for further details.
All COVID-19 protocols will be adhered to, every attendee should wear a
mask and observe social distancing.

#RUASENZINEX
#NATIONALSHUTDOWN
#ASINAMALI
#SIZOFUNDANGENKANI.

Issued 23 March 2021.

Contact: SRC Secretary-General, Mitchelle Makokove. e: srcsg@ru.ac.za t:+27 (0) 46 603 7081/7083