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Yesterday, the students at the University of Forth Hare's Alice campus were reportedly informed that they must vacate university residences by 11:00 today, 31 July, and are expected to return to on the 8th of August. This is the result of the University Management claiming not to have been paid by NSFAS and not being able to pay the students affected in full.

Yesterday, whilst the students were busy with mass protest action, members of the university management, accompanied by the police, are alleged to have arrived carrying guns. The police are also said to have pointed their pistols at the students. This naturally caused chaos.

The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) demands that an investigation be launched into these allegations, and if found to be true, appropriate disciplinary steps be taken against the university management. The university management should rather be publicly demanding the payment of the outstanding NSFAS money.

In these circumstances DASO believes that the closure of the university is unreasonable. Firstly, the students were given extremely short notice to vacate the premises. Secondly, the students cannot afford to travel home unexpectedly.

This chain of unfortunate events simply comes down to NSFAS not delivering to deserving students, once again. We have seen this before and we are seeing it again. Effectively, students are being rejected because they come from poor families that cannot fund their studies. This is unacceptable.

We are calling on the Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, to urgently investigate the lack of funding from NSFAS.  Furthermore, we are calling on the university stop the unnecessary eviction and take serious action against the university management threatening students with firearms. DASO will not stop fighting for the rights of the students at the University of Fort Hare.