The academic future of hundreds of Walter Sisulu University students hangs in the balance after their National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding was abruptly terminated this year.
WSU is owed an astronomical R1.4bn by current and former students. In 2025 alone, the university said, 1,500 of its students had been “defunded” by NSFAS.
University council chair Prof Tembeka Ngcukaitobi made the disclosure while appearing before parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education this week.
Ngcukaitobi said WSU had been forced to register some of the unfunded students who qualified academically, further depleting its shrinking coffers.
Of the 32,000 students enrolled at the university this year, Ngcukaitobi said, 24,570 were studying through funding from NSFAS.
He told MPs that “in an unprecedent and destabilising development”, 600 of these students had their funding abruptly terminated mid-semester in the first half of 2025, a move that he said had the potential to immediately trigger campus unrest.
“A crippling decline in funding by NSFAS has left a gaping hole in our ability to provide access to university education by all academically deserving students.
“Our CFO has reported to the NSFAS the many challenges we face about ‘unfunded’ and ‘defunded’ students. No responses have been forthcoming from NSFAS,” Ngcukaitobi said.
Council has identified this sudden defunding as the immediate trigger of the campus unrest experienced this academic year, including the tragic incident of April 15.
— University council chair Prof Tembeka Ngcukaitobi
Despite this, the university council had resolved not to turn away any student who qualified academically.
“So, we register them. We create ‘special cases’. We sign acknowledgements of debt with some students with the hope that they will pay at some future date.
“We give them their academic transcripts when they finish their studies in the hope that they will pay.
“Our experience, however, is that we do not often recover the money — at least not on time."
Ngcukaitobi said when they register unfunded students, “new challenges emerge”.
“ ...they need food, they need a place to stay, they need transport and they need academic materials. This year alone, we had to raise R3m to help students eat.”
He said some retailers had also chipped in to allow “students to access some limited items from their stores” without paying.
Ngcukaitobi said the university’s persistent financial difficulties created “an ongoing challenge of balancing inclusivity with available resources”.
The current university council and management assumed their responsibilities in 2021, inheriting an institution “in profound crisis”.
“The university has proactively engaged NSFAS through multiple channels to address this situation.
“Despite these interventions, the severe psychological distress and practical hardships experienced by affected students have created significant tension on campus.
“Council has identified this sudden defunding as the immediate trigger of the campus unrest experienced this academic year, including the tragic incident of April 15.”
On that day, a 24-year old student at the Mthatha campus, Sisonke Mbolekwa, was fatally shot, allegedly by a campus residence manager, during a student protest.
Two other students were shot and wounded.
Ngcukaitobi said WSU was implementing multiple support interventions to address the challenges.
NSFAS spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said he could not respond on Thursday to questions regarding the issues raised by Ngcukaitobi, promising to do so on Friday.
Daily Dispatch
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