Students hoping to register for the 2023 academic year Walter Sisulu University (WSU) are frustrated with the registration process.
Disgruntled students have received provisional funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) but have not been able to register. Being unable to register has also prevented students from being allocated student accommodation from the institution.
The South African Students Congress’ (SASCO) Regional secretary Vuyo Tologu believes WSU is not handling these challenges in the correct manner, as there is no transparency or communication.
Tologu says on previous occasions, WSU would communicate openly with stakeholders regarding registration challenges and explain why these challenges are occurring. However, this has not been the case.
SASCO also alleged that some prospective students paid registration fees to secure their placement at the instruction for the upcoming academic year. However, when these students attempt to register, they are turned away.
Tologu explains these students received admission letters by the institution's registrar. These admission letters advised students to finalise their registration.
They allege that when students paid their registration fees, up to R4,600, WSU changed their application statuses.
Tologu said, “Upon paying them the money they discovered that the university just changed their statuses to not admit some to quote a full or class full so now they are not able to get any space.”
Sasco says they communicated with WSU who said that the current challenges are being experienced at institutions throughout the country. Tologu says the union believes this is a blatant lie.
