ANC ignores plight of South African students in Russia

11 October 2022

Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Chantel King MP.

229 desperate South African students studying in Russia had until Monday 10 October 2022 to pay outstanding accommodation and tuition fees or face the risk of being homeless in a foreign country. This after the Mpumalanga Department of Education cancelled the contract of Green Tutu trading as RACUS.

It is outrageous that in September 2022, the ANC saw it fit to send ANC Youth League (ANCYL) members to Russia as observers to witness a series of referendums to legitimize the illegal invasion of Ukrainian territory. This while the ANC in Mpumalanga knew of the unpaid tuition and accommodation fees of the concerned students in Russia.

The ANC in Mpumalanga and in extension the Mpumalanga Provincial legislature should account for the plight of these students.

The Ministers for Higher Education and Basic Education, Blade Nzimande and Angie Motshekga, should urgently engage the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, and the Mpumalanga Education Department on this matter to avoid these evictions and deregistration from these institutions. Surely the plight of these students should supersede an illegal gathering to an ill-conceived referendum.

We will ensure that all South African students across the globe are not left behind. A slogan the ANC has forgotten about, “An injury to one is an injury to all”, when the human rights and dignity of South Africans are infringed.

Issued by Chantel King, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education, 11 October 2022