The students are demanding that they be allowed to register with outstanding fees, the immediate disbursement of NSFAS allowances and for students to be given laptops. The college was not immediately available for comment.

Students vow to continue protesting until their demands are met.

“All those who were sent home must report back to campus and be allowed to register. The students have agreed that if there’s no feedback then the struggle continues,” says a student.

“They are discriminating against us because there are those students that were allowed to register with outstanding balances,” says another student.

Free State University students registration challenges

Last week, the University of the Free State (UFS) has suspended all academic activities and opened up its two campuses for senior undergraduates and first-year students unable to register online, to do so at their campuses in Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa.

The Student Representative Council (SRC) of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein has appealed to the management to stop demanding permits from students who want to access the campus.

Some students are still struggling to register due to technical challenges. Classes have resumed on all UFS campuses.

University SRC Deputy General Secretary, Kamohelo Seleke, says they have written to the management to resolve the permit issue.

“As far as things are going, as SRC we are not happy because most of our students are still coming to campus trying to register. Most of them are not finding access to campus to be able to register. So now we want to urge the university management to further scrap the permit system for this week and allow our students access to campus. We want to make sure that all our students before we continue with everything, all of them should be registered and have access to the university campus and can register,” says Seleke.

SABC News