Languages: 
Scores of WSU graduates were able to obtain their academic certificates from the university recently thanks to an intervention championed by the institution’s Convocation Executive Committee that raised millions to settle the students’ debt.
University management, staff, friends, and family gathered at Buffalo City Campus Potsdam Great Hall to bear witness to the first-of-its-kind Convocation Certificate Handover Ceremony that signalled the settling of students debt to the tune of some R40 million.
Convocation President, Dr Lunga Mantashe, who characterised the current national student debt crisis as a “humanitarian crisis“, cautioned against the scourge of the ever-rising billions of rands in graduate debt.
“Over 23 000 graduates and students owe the university money, but through the efforts of the government, SETAs, businesses and certain individuals, this situation has been changed for the better. We don’t want to think of this as a change in a majority of people, but we want to think of this as a change for each and every individual beneficiary of this initiative,“ said Dr Mantashe.
Having described the massive student debt challenge as a humanitarian crisis, the Convex President sought to sustain this submission by tabling a list of the negative and invasive effects of the student debt crisis.
Dignity and self-doubt were chief amongst the aforementioned negative effects of the debt crisis, a situation wherein one could start doubting the validity and worth of their qualification, and start doubting the prospects for the future.
“One also understand that to be in debt is to have your life limited in terms of opportunities and this cuts deep on the emotional state of those in debt. For those of us who were at some point student leaders, we’ve seen this pain in real time because we had to negotiate for students regarding their debts,“ he said.
In his message of support, Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) President, Masixole Mabongo, was all smiles as he stood on the podium and heaped praise upon the efforts strides made by Convocation in slightly alleviating the debt crisis.
Never one to mince his words, the student leader was emphatic in publicly declaring that since his arrival at the university in 2019, the current convocation executive was the most “functional“ in his personal experience.
“It’s an utmost privilege for me to be a president in a time where a first-of-its-kind programme such as this exists that hits at the core of why I’m a student leader, which is to help students. This is a momentous occasion that cannot be erased from the university’s history, and I’m glad I’m here to witness it as president,“ said Mabongo.
By Thando Cezula
