One of The Worst Weekends Ever... (Stampedes, Bribes & ill Treatment of Students)

Where do I start...

1. Disorganized System Puts Children's Lives at Risk (Stampede).

We arrived on the campus at 3:00 AM on Friday to drop the child off to apply, as we were advised by their admin team, which consists mostly of students themselves. We were told that there were about 3000 applicants of which they had processed and yet they only had space left for 800, therefore, it was "FIRST COME FIRST SERVE"...

You can imagine there would be chaos, as some students slept outside on the queue from Thursday night. Sure enough, there was chaos, we were met by disorganized lines and an innumerable number of students standing at the gate. Fortunately where we dropped my younger brother off looked less messy as there was a proper line at the back.

We received a report from him later in the day, that there was a stampede upfront, of which some students were vomiting, and many others had fainted. An ambulance had to be called to attend to the students. Despite this, they (Respublica staff) did not assist the students. They waited until 17:00 PM, and communicated with the students only at 17:00 PM to tell them to go home and come back on Sunday. Students who had slept on the queue from the night before, some arriving really early from far away provinces.

The students were obviously disgruntled and started putting up a fight as there were told to come early, only to be left without assistance at the gates until 17:00 pm and eventually told to go home. A commotion ensued, however, there were able to take about 60 students when the majority of students had left. My younger brother managed to enter their facilities and he was promised to be assisted. We were ready to fetch him at any time but they kept telling him they will assist him. At 21:00 PM we got a call from him saying the "admin team" as I said, students, wanted to go take a nap, and wake up at 2:00 AM so that they can assist them, they advised them not to leave as Saturday they would be met by a long queue. They provided the students with a hall to rest. Seemed like a brief relief, but I regret making that decision...

The stampede that happened with their "first come first serve" system is A SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERN and it should be revised. This could have fatal consequences if they choose to treat it so casually.

2. Reports of Brides amounting to R 2500 Taken at the Admin Office

This is now Saturday and the students (my brother included) slept in the hall provided to them. He tells me at around 11 am, that they took them outside to rejoin the larger queue again. I kept calling and being told to wait, until around at 13:00 PM I decide to go see what is happening. When I got there he was being taken to a room where he was instructed to hand in an AOD, acknowledgement of debt form and once they verify him they would give him a key. This sounded like good news, as it seemed he was closed to getting processed. We waited for about 3 hours after that, it was around this time that I heard rumours from the students, that the admin team were issuing "keys" and verifying students whose parents were paying a BRIBE FEE of R 2500. A parent was almost attacked by students as they accused the mother of paying a bribe to skip the queue.

At first, I thought it was just a rumour the students were passing around out of frustration, but when I observed the way the team was idling, I realised that they were trying to buy time and create frustrating situations so desperate parents could eventually pay the bribe fee. After waiting for about 3 hours, we went to reception, and they told us to go home, and come back on Sunday, the following day, as they have my little brothers' AoD form they will verify him the next day. He insisted that they WILL be assisting first-year students on Sunday, we have nothing to worry about.

3. Victimisation and ill-treatment of Students

My younger brother came back on Sunday as he was told. He was met by a very long line again, which is understandable because they told all the first years to come back on Sunday. Here is the problem, AGAIN, they were not allowing the students to go in. So once again there a long line of students who were not being assisted. The only way students could go in is if they came in a car or the school bus. I am not sure how they managed to do it, but he teamed up with a friend to ask the bus driver to let them on the bus as it went inside the Res.

They managed to get in and find someone who made them sit in a room, saying he will make sure that the group got verified. We arrived at the Res and waited with him and at around 19:00 PM, only, they announced to the first year students in the line outside, that the Res had reached full capacity. Something I think they knew long before because they were not assisting students they just made them wait while making different kinds of excuses.

There were parents who had paid bribe money, who's children where being turned back, and were demanding their money. The admin assistant told me that the group my brother had joined, was last group of students to get rooms. And so we waited. At 22:00 PM we were told we could go home to collect his belongings. We had to leave him in that room as they were verifying them one by one. He assured us that he will get a room, in fact, he advised us to pack his belongings and have them ready and they will call us to bring them. I called at MIDNIGHT... they were still waiting to get verified. 2:00 AM... they were sorting out a crisis of students who were given keys but not verified. Basically, my brother asked again that we do not fetch him as he needs to spend the night in the room they were allocated, so he does not miss out. At this point I could hear my brothers disappointment over the phone and that this was taking a toll on him.

I called the next day for him to answer at 9:00 AM (Monday) telling me they actually turned them away saying there is no space. Even though they made them sleep over because they were" guaranteed rooms".

I DO NOT KNOW WHO IS GOING TO READ THIS, but if it comes across a Respublica Management team, I want to let you know that you have NO RIGHT to torment our kids in this manner. I overheard a boy crying from Limpopo telling his parent that they just turned him back at 19:00 pm and he hasn't bathed in 3 days and has slept at their facilities from Thursday. I do not know what kind of joy the management gets from making kids suffer in this way. Telling them they should come at a certain date, all thousands of them, and then not assisting them at all. Convincing them to sleep over, turning them back at night 2 - 3 days after.

The case of my brother is what infuriates me. Over the 3 days when we could have just taken him and gone somewhere else we were told, "he is close to being verified", "he is next", "He just needs to be given keys". Only to be turned back and stranded. I repeat you have no right to make students go through that. We understand that the situation can get a bit desperate with NSFAS students as they mostly only apply in January but please do not take advantage of that.

Some of these students have a lot to worry about in terms of being far away from home and having to make a plan to survive, just to get a chance at a decent education. To prey on that desperation is really sad. I implore you to change and reconsider the way things are currently being done.

PLEASE IMPROVE YOUR SYSTEM. We cannot be working on a "First Come, First Serve" basis in 2019, especially when it involves thousands of people. There are digital solutions that can be used to tackle these kinds of issues. UJ was among the institutions who were sensitive to the risks this system presented and implemented a safer system.

If you are only going to accept students that pay bribe money, at least have the decency to not lie to us, and promise to assist when you know you are delaying on purpose, possibly to extract bribe money.

I am extremely disappointed in Respublica West City, I despise the experience my little brother had to go through due to their laziness, greed and disorganization.

If you are a parent, please do NOT take your child there. It is a hazard and a waste of time. Please try to find an alternative as long as their system is like this.