By Thapelo Molefe
The Central University of Technology (CUT) has committed to urgently pay accommodation allowances directly to 1,392 students at its Welkom Campus after an intervention by Higher Education Deputy Minister Yusuf Cassim.
The affected students, who are staying in unaccredited accommodation, have reportedly gone without accommodation allowances since the beginning of the year, despite assurances from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) that the matter would be resolved.
Cassim visited the Welkom Campus on Tuesday, where he met affected students and CUT management. He raised concerns about the delays, particularly the risk of students being evicted from their accommodation.
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The ministry said the deputy minister had previously raised the CUT matter with NSFAS administrator Professor Hlengani Mathebula during a meeting in Cape Town on 14 July. A subsequent NSFAS delegation visited CUT, after which a payment plan was agreed and communicated.
However, further administrative processes resulted in only 260 allowance payments being confirmed, leaving the majority of affected students without financial support.
Cassim then directed that there should be no further delays and read out an NSFAS letter authorising direct payments to the affected students.
“What the letter says: ‘NSFAS hereby approves the requested deviation for the 2026 academic year only, allowing affected students to remain in accommodation and receive an accommodation allowance of R2 500 per student per month.’ The allowance is payable to the students, as per NSFAS’s deviation approval letter,” Cassim said.
“The letter further directs the institution to continue ensuring that students in both credited and unaccredited accommodation reside in conditions that are conducive to academic success.”
Cassim urged CUT to make the payments directly to students, saying that the university already has the relevant student information and banking details.
The university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Pamela Zibuyile Dube, committed to ensuring that the allowances are paid directly to students as quickly as possible.
The accommodation crisis also extended to CUT’s Bloemfontein Campus, where students raised concerns about the condition and location of some accredited accommodation facilities.
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Some students reported that accommodation was in poor condition and located near nightlife and drinking establishments.
Cassim requested that these concerns be included in a report on the suitability and quality of accredited student accommodation, which will be submitted to his office and NSFAS’s student accommodation section for further investigation.
He also called on the student representative councils at both campuses to maintain constructive relations with CUT management to help resolve institutional issues.
