Johannesburg - The Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Buti Manamela, has said a staff member implicated in soliciting bribes from students to secure admission at the University of Venda (Univen) in Limpopo has been suspended.
This comes after a student, who had applied for Postgraduate Certificate in Education studies at the university took to social media after she received a text from an employee at the institution claiming that he could assist her to be admitted if she paid R3 500.
“Not me applying to the University of Venda only to receive these texts, I am shocked and disgusted by the corruption in this country,’’ she tweeted.
She included the screenshots of the conversation with the individual in her posts. The screenshots were clear that the staff member wanted money from the student to quickly process her application.
Manamela stated that the university would further probe whether there were more people involved in the admissions scam and any other matters of that nature.
“The staff member implicated here has been suspended today, and the university will further probe whether there are some people involved in this scam and any other such matters. I’m told they’ve also contacted you and are trying to help with your application. All the best,” wrote Manamela in a tweet replying to the student.
Social media users applauded the student for her bravery of sharing such crucial information on the platform as this would help other students not to fall into the trap that university employees use to milk students (of their) money.
Meanwhile, social media user, Mantsoe Pout-Nomzamo, said a similar incident happened to her nieces at the North West University (NWU) where they were allegedly ordered to pay R4 000 each to secure spaces.
“This is currently happening to my nieces with NWU. Both of them applied last year, are being asked to pay R4k each for assurance.
“And when I asked around about this, it is so deep!!! People are selling kids space and if you don’t have the money, you can forget about studying,” she said.
kamogelo.moichela@inl.co.za
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