AfriForum Youth this week sent more lawyers\u2019 letters to the Free State Provincial Bursary Office to demand that the promised bursaries be paid out to 2021\u2019s top 100 matrics in the Free State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This follows after numerous pleading e-mails from the Free State\u2019s top 100 matrics, who did not receive their promised bursaries, were received by AfriForum Youth. The problem is more far-reaching than AfriForum Youth initially thought. The organisation assisted two of the top students after it was brought to their attention that the students did not receive their scholarships, or any correspondence from the scholarship office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe number of inquiries we have received emphasizes that injustice with bursaries is a significant problem for our young people. We have indeed opened a can of worms, where various evils in this regard are exposed,\u201d says Ren\u00e9 van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum Youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was controversy earlier this year over the scholarships for the top 100 matrics in the Free State. Full bursaries were on occasion promised to every matric who accomplished this achievement, but the Free State government turned back shortly afterwards and proposed other criteria for bursary awards. Children whose parents earn a total of more than R600 000 a year are then deprived of the bursary. After much pressure from opposition parties and the media, Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela once again promised on March 4 that every top 100 matric would receive the promised bursary, regardless of their parents\u2019 annual income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the inquiries sent to AfriForum Youth show that the bursaries of several students have not yet been paid out and that these students are still trying in vain to obtain correspondence from the bursary office. Furthermore, on April 25, some of the students heard that they had to apply for the bursaries from scratch and respond to requests, such as attaching parents’ salary slips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is sad to see how hard-working top achievers are treated by the Free State government. The students have been trying for months to get basic correspondence from the bursary office and now they have to go through the gruelling process of submitting a bursary application, with unfair requirements, to get the bursary that has already been promised to them,\u201d says Ren\u00e9 van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum Youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n