Editorial
Johannesburg - For the past three weeks, the lives of 229 South African students have been in limbo at Russian universities.
On Monday, matters came to a head when 40 medical students at the Saratov Chernyshevsky State University were banned from attending classes.
This week Mpumalanga Education MEC Bonakele Makeba accused the students of exaggerating their plight to further the cause of the previous placement agency which did not have its contract renewed.
The fees are now almost three months overdue. The department’s financial officer Thokozile Ntuli has blamed the ongoing war in Ukraine for the delay, but has confirmed the money has been transferred to DIrco but no one knows when it will be paid.
It’s an appalling situation - and another embarrassment for South Africa
It’s not fair on the students; they are in a foreign country totally at the mercy of their own government and entirely dependent on the charity of their hosts.
That’s bad enough, but the MEC’s response is even worse. Students are being barred from lectures, very soon they will be evicted from their accommodation, creating a humanitarian crisis from what has been a logistical headache.
In three weeks, the government has not resolved the situation, instead the MEC has doubled down on her ad hominem attacks.
This is not what we expect from our elected officials and we definitely should not tolerate it. There has to be accountability and there have to be deliverable time frames.
If the MEC cannot resolve this in the next week, she needs to be replaced with someone who can.
But the government also needs to take a long hard look at its protocols when it comes to sending students to study overseas.
It is supposed to be a privilege but all too often it turns out to be purgatory for the students through no fault of their own.
It’s not fair.