THE University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) was expected to make an announcement at noon on Friday about the outcome of its poll on whether the institution should resume academic activities on Monday.
Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel said about 37,000 SMSes were sent to students and staff.
"We are still waiting for the auditors to come back to us‚ as they are still busy with the processing of results. We don’t have any of the figures yet‚ but we know that the majority of the SMSes we delivered to students and staff‚" said Patel.
The university also posted an e-mail address to which "Wits staff and students who were not able to participate in the #WitsPoll can send comments"‚ its website said.
Patel told TMG Digital that the poll responses would be sent to two separate databases‚ which would generate a report that would then go to the auditors.
"The auditors will then check if there hasn’t been any form of duplication and that people could only vote once‚" she said.
Patel said it cost the university 65c for each SMS — or a total of R24,050. But the service provider had a partnership with the university’s Digital Hub and could negotiate with it to drop the price, she said.
Asked whether the university was willing to reopen on Monday regardless of the outcome of the poll results‚ she said, "We should make a decision by Sunday morning whether we’ll reopen or not on Monday.
"We have to look at issues of safety‚ security and we also have look at reports from parents and alumni and we will take all of that into consideration‚ including the current situation around other campuses in the country."
The university has been shut for almost two weeks‚ following the announcement by Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande that universities can raise tuition fees for the 2017 academic year‚ but the increases will be capped at 8%.
‘Don’t sacrifice your careers’
Nobody could justify wasting the financial sacrifice families had made for students to write exams at the end of the year, University of Cape Town (UCT) council chairman Sipho Pityana said.
Pityana on Friday implored the UCT community to resume the academic year and pleaded with students not to sacrifice their careers.
Quoting the Freedom Charter‚ he said: "Of course, the doors of learning shall be open to all" — a call endorsed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
"That we should be at each other’s throats for the realisation of this right 22 years on‚ since a free SA was established‚ is a terrible indictment on our public policy," he said.
"I applaud our youth‚ and students in particular‚ for reminding us and reminding society in general that our constitutional promise cannot be negotiated away. A promise made is a promise kept‚ and that should be our mantra."
Students reminded him of the struggle for equal education 40 years ago: "It was a battle against [the] apartheid system itself for a free SA, which we have now attained. Many died in that struggle‚ others were maimed‚ and yet many more lost their youth and education. Many of those that lost their education are today condemned to the periphery of the economy and often unemployed. In a free SA you don’t have to pay the same price‚" he said.
"Please allow us to work together with you to achieve all of these important objectives that all of us are concerned about."
Institutions of higher learning were "our inheritance" and should be protected. Burning them down "does not only keep the doors of learning shut‚ it also ensures that they shall never be open to all‚ but only to those that can afford to send their children to study abroad".
Echoing sentiments raised at other universities‚ he said suspending the academic programme was not a sustainable solution and appealed to students to resume their studies on Monday.
"However great our cause‚ nobody can justify throwing to waste the financial sacrifice of families that have paid for students due to write exams at the end of this year.
"There can be no justification for compromising career prospects of completing students with offers to start their careers in 2017. It cannot be right that any of our students should lose a year of studying."
He said unresolved issues should not be pushed under the carpet and gave an undertaking to students that the institution would "continue with the conversation to find each other and find workable resolutions".
TMG Digital
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