Deputy Minister of Education Yusuf Cassim has described the disturbance of his scheduled address by some students at Nelson Mandela University as unfortunate and unfair to those students who really needed assistance.
Cassim was invited to engage with students on various issues such as academic challenges, funding allowances and student accommodation challenges.
It’s alleged that some disgruntled students labelled Yusuf’s visit as a political election strategy, as the university is preparing for SRC elections next week.
Police were called to calm the situation, and the deputy minister was escorted by his personal protectors, where he had a closed meeting with university management and members of the student representative body.
Cassim says it is the first time since he became a government official to be subjected to such treatment.
“And the most heartbreaking thing about today, there were some students that were here that genuinely wanted to access these stakeholders. They had genuine problems with some of the SETAs that we brought here today. And some of them were in tears. They said these guys that are disrupting don’t understand what we are going through. Their politics shouldn’t prevent us from accessing government and the services of government. And it’s been unfortunate,” says Cassim.
