Wits Final-Year Student’s Graduation Dreams Dashed After Father Loses Legal Bid Over R100k in Fees Owed

• A father's desperate attempt to get his daughter to her graduation day has ended in disappointment
• The man approached the Johannesburg High Court to compel Wits University to let his daughter graduate despite her R100k fees debt
• The court found ordering Wits to let the girl graduate would be unfair to the institution and set a dangerous precedent

JOHANNESBURG - Father's bid to get his daughter to walk in her graduation has ended in disappointment.

The girl, a final-year student at the University of the Witwatersrand and her father approached the Johannesburg High Court to force the university to let her graduate, despite being R 100 000 in arrears in fees.

The pair also tried to get the court to compel the institution to allow the final-year student to register for a Bachelor of Education Honours degree.

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Wits argues allowing student to graduate will open Pandora's box

Wits University's legal team claimed that the university's policy stated that final-year student tuition must be paid up before graduation.

The university added that if they made an exception in this case, it would open up the floodgates and force it to do the same for all would-be graduates who owed the university.

Acting Judge G Meyer agreed with the university and dismissed the father's application claiming Wits was entitled to its stance regarding non-payment of fees, IOL reported.

Father took Wits to court in 2022 over another non-payment issue

The court also noted it was not the first time the father had dragged Wits to court.

The previous year the father approached the court to compel the university to let his daughter enrol for her final year of studies despite him owing R102,139.32 in fees.

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The university came to an agreement with the father and relented to letting his daughter complete her studies.

The condition was that the father provided it with an acknowledgement of debt where he bound himself as surety for the outstanding fees.

The father did not comply with the agreement.

South Africans welcome court decisions to dismiss Wits father's application

Below are some comments:

@Zet_1987 claimed

"Fees could have been free, but you wanted the ANC."

@BopheloWarena asked:

"So the father couldn’t use the money he spent going to lawyers and courts to pay the university fees? Is that pure stupidity, pure arrogance or both?"

@UknwWhu criticised:

"He has money for lawyers but not to pay the fees."

@NottAbott1 added:

"Good. This is 100% the father’s fault."

Wits retaliated to fees protest by serving “disruptors” with suspension letters

In a similar story, Briefly News reported that the University of Witwatersrand retaliated to the fees protest by suspending students they have labelled disruptors.

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The institution released a statement on Thursday evening, 2 March claiming multiple suspension orders were given to students who "transgressed the university's rules".

The protesting students are calling for the scrapping of financial exclusion, the end of residence alliance caps from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and the lack of accommodation to be addressed, TimesLIVE reported.

Source: Briefly News