Nuusita Ashipala

OSHAKATI – University students in the north have threatened to mobilise other voters not to cast their votes in the upcoming polls after 12 000 students were not given NSFAF funding.
The northern students joined the students’ national  demonstration held countrywide.
The students marched from Ongwediva to the Oshana Regional Office in Oshakati where they handed over their petition to the Governor of Oshana Region Elia Irimari.
Earlier media reports suggest that more than 12 000 first-year students are likely not to receive financial assistance if the government does not come to the rescue of  NSFAF (Namibia Students  Financial Assistance Fund) to cover the N$641 million shortfall.
The students charged that the decision taken by NSFAF is irresponsibly sending 
12 000 youths into the streets. The students also demanded the resignation of the Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation Itah Kandjii-Murangi, accusing her of planting seeds of disunity within the student leadership.
The students have given the authorities an ultimatum to the end of June to meet their demands. “If not answered we shall demand the resignation of the minister of high education and actions will be publicly made.  The student population is also ready to boycott the 2019 national elections if no positive feedback is given upon the due date,” the student spokesperson Michael Mwashidange said in the petition.
Mwashindange before he read the petition also questioned where the 12 000 students would turn to.
 “We fear what will happen to the masses that will not benefit from the fund because we do not want to become thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes,” Mwashindange said.
The students also called on NSFAF to stop “discriminating” against students.
They called on NSFAF to treat previously disadvantaged students at private institutions the same as those at public institutions.
“Students should be treated the same, everyone should benefit fairly. This is the taxpayer’s money, our money, so we should not be discriminated against,” Mwashindange said further.
Irimari assured the students that he would channel the petition to the intended office.