media releases - Comment on Jacob Zuma statement

MEDIA STATEMENT
RESPONSE TO THE COMMENTS MADE BY ANC PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA REGARDING UNISA’S ALLEGED DELIBERATE EXCLUSION OF STUDENTS SUPPORTED BY THE JACOB ZUMA TRUST

It was reported in the media that at a banquet held in Durban on 7 March 2009, ANC president Jacob Zuma expressed concern that Unisa had deliberately excluded students who were being supported by the Jacob Zuma Trust.

The Management of the University immediately generated an enquiry into the comment and identified that there had been an engagement between the Durban Regional Office of Unisa and SASCO representing students supported by the JZ Trust. The following facts also came to light:
On/about 19 January 2009, members of SASCO presented a Manager at the Durban Regional with a list of names and requested that letters of temporary registration be issued in respect of the listed students. The purpose was allegedly to support the students’ application for funds from the JZ Trust for the educational studies in 2009. When the list was processed, 4 categories of students were identified.

• Category 1: returning students who had submitted registration forms indicating their intention to study in 2009 and who had no outstanding fees owing to the University. Letters of temporary registration were issued in respect of all these students.
  
• Category 2: returning students who had not submitted registration forms for 2009. No letter of temporary registration could be issued in respect of these students as there was no detail on the system regarding their study programme choices for the year.
  
• Category 3: returning students who owed the University funds in respect of outstanding fees. Such students are blocked from all further registration activity until the outstanding fee balances are settled. No letter of temporary registration could, therefore, be issued for these students
  
• Category 4: new students who had not finalised their applications to study at Unisa before the due date of 9 January 2009. As they were not in possession of a student number, no registration (temporary or otherwise) could be processed in respect of these students.

In the cases where a temporary registration status could not be provided, the supervisor who dealt with the list noted clearly against each of the listed names the reason for no letter being issued to the specific student. The list of names and the explanatory comments were then returned to the student leadership together with the letters that had been properly issued.

Commenting on the statement of Mr Zuma, the Registrar noted that it was most unfortunate that the ANC President had been misinformed of the facts. The Unisa 10-year Strategic Plan entrenches the values of fairness, equity and social justice and Unisa makes every endeavour to uphold these standards. We would never unreasonably prejudice any student, he noted.