Feziwe Ndwayana and Siviwe Mafuna are postgraduate students at Wits University, who are among many students barred from registration on account of historical debt owed to Wits.

As an act of peaceful protest against the financial exclusion of black working class students, Feziwe and Siviwe embarked on a hunger strike on Friday the 14th of February, demanding that all students be allowed to register, regardless of the amount of historical debt owed to the university. On the 12th day of the hunger strike, Wits University met with the student activists for the first time since the hunger strike began. The meeting served the purpose of simply conveying the message that, despite the hunger strike, the university categorically refuses to engage with them.

In the context of this cruel indifference from Wits, after being on hunger strike for more than 270 hours, the student activists made the decision to pause the hunger strike on Tuesday the 25th of February, while different avenues in the struggle against financial exclusion are being engaged.

In addition to being burdened by debt, Feziwe and Siviwe have also been barred from applying to the Wits Hardship Fund and the fund administered by the Wits Student Representative Council, on account of the fact that they are both postgraduate students.

Feziwe and Siviwe have demonstrated incredible resolve and conviction in defiance of injustice. Yet even after the hunger strike is over, they remain burdened with tremendous amounts of historical debt. We are therefore appealing to your generosity and solidarity to donate whatever you can to clear their student debt.

Feziwe and Siviwe are extraordinarily brave student activists whose commitment to ending financial exclusion is inspiring. These are their stories:

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"My name is Feziwe Ndwayana. I am meant to register for Masters in Economic Sociology. I am a top grader in my department with three distinctions.

I come from the rural areas in the Eastern Cape where young people are uneducated and unemployed and the rate of HIV/AIDS are the highest in that district. However, from a young age I told myself I would never be a statistic and I would break the cycle of poverty.

At home I am a bread winner, my parents rely on me to enable them to live decent lives. I am a single mother of one and I need this education not only to provide for my parents but build for my sons future."

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"My name is Siviwe Mafuna. I am a Postgraduate Law student, aspiring to become an advocate to fight for the rights of the marginalised and oppressed.

Unfortunately, I am unable to register due to outstanding historic debt. In protest and in pursuit of justice, I have embarked on a hunger strike, because education should be a right, not a privilege reserved for the wealthy.

I am seeking support to clear my historic debt, thereby allowing me to register. Any contribution would be deeply appreciated."

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