By Nicola Reyneke
Refugee students at Stellenbosch University (SU) say they remain overlooked within institutional structures, with limited access to funding, representation and support.
These concerns came to the forefront during the second student plenary sitting of the year held on 30 April. The agenda point titled “Students’ Representative Council (SRC) support for refugee and displaced students” was addressed by Katlego Matale, the SRC member holding the International Students portfolio and also the Chairperson of the Societies Council.
Solomzi Mphambo, the Speaker for Student Assembly, read the prompt accompanying the agenda point, asking whether the SRC had “discussed or planned a way of supporting or reaching out to refugee students on campus”, and whether the SRC was aware of “the challenges that the university systematically contributes to the challenges that they face”.
Lived experience of SU refugees
“People don’t even know we exist, but there are 80 of us,” said Ornela Meri during the plenary discussion.
Meri is a final-year BA (Humanities) student, refugee, and Chairperson of the Stellenbosch University Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network (SURASN), a registered SU society.
Meri described the emotional and practical strain faced by refugee students, adding that many struggle to access bursaries or employment opportunities due to documentation requirements.
“We don’t have bursaries,” Meri said. “Every time my colleagues and I went to apply, they were scared because we aren’t citizens.” She further explained that refugee students who seek employment opportunities often face additional scrutiny regarding their documentation and legal status. “We actually need to prove our existence every minute,” she said.
Meri also raised concerns regarding the emotional impact of exclusion and broader societal xenophobia. “People are scared for their lives,” she said, adding that refugee students often feel unseen within institutional structures. “Our leadership is really just like a big mirror or wall.”
Referring to an engagement from a previous SRC member with the International Students portfolio, Meri said that the Chairperson “only came to us and asked us if we needed food for our event”. While she acknowledged appreciating the gesture, she described the interaction as “shocking and disappointing” and argued that it reflected “a lack of importance given to why he was holding that position”.
In a follow-up email to Die Matie on 7 May, Meri maintained that the discrimination experienced by refugee and displaced students often manifests “as a general sense of exclusion or systemic barriers rather than always being overt incidents”.
However, she added that some students still feel “targeted or unsafe due to their status”, particularly when navigating off-campus environments or dealing with administrative systems that “don’t account for our unique circumstances”.
“These moments of ‘othering’ significantly impact a student’s sense of belonging and safety,” Meri told Die Matie.
SRC response
In her formal response to the prompt read at the sitting, Matale said, “As students, we navigate a range of multifaceted challenges – some more visible than others, and receive more institutional support. Refugee and displaced students are integral to our broader student body and community. Their experiences highlight a critical gap in how inclusion is currently operationalized in the institution.”
She acknowledged that the SRC has not maintained “a consistently formalised or sustained SRC programme specifically dedicated to refugee and displaced students”.
Matale maintained that engagement has largely taken place in “fragmented spaces” through platforms such as SURASN, and broader internationalisation discussions, but has “not translated into anything structured, visible or SRC-approached”.
Several key challenges concerning refugee and displaced students were also highlighted during Matale’s response, including restricted access to funding, exclusion from campus employment and leadership opportunities due to citizenship requirements, limited support systems, barriers surrounding citizenship transitions, and safety concerns linked to broader societal xenophobia.
She added that students still face barriers accessing many funding opportunities, which remain “heavily restricted to South African citizens or students tied to specific criteria”.
Addressing the SRC’s role moving forward, Matale affirmed that the SRC plans to strengthen advocacy, co-ordination, and accountability through refugee-inclusive funding advocacy, partnerships with student societies, and more holistic support structures. However, she noted that matters relating to immigration status and legal documentation fall outside the direct mandate of both the SRC and the university, as these are governed by national legislation.
SRC financial limitations toward refugee students
Questions surrounding the SRC’s ability to financially support refugee and displaced students also emerged during the discussion between students at the plenary sitting, particularly regarding delays in funding within the international students’ portfolio.
SRC Treasurer General, Sinawo Sangovana, attributed delays in supporting the International portfolio to institutional delays and complications involving budget transfers between SRC cost centres. Sangovana stated that “the SRC could not spend money that was not ours to spend”, adding that institutional delays had affected allocations.
Mfumbathi Moluli, a third-year BScAgric (Agricultural Economics) student, raised concerns that the reasoning behind the portfolio’s inactivity had not been sufficiently clarified. He emphasised, “What do you mean there was nothing in your cost centre? What do you mean, up until this point, there was nothing? No funding?”
In a follow-up response to Die Matie on 8 May, Moluli argued that the explanation surrounding the reported “financial issues” had “raised more questions than it answered”. He said that students required “disclosure and clarity” regarding when the issue arose, how it affected the portfolio, and what steps had been taken to resolve it.
“In leadership, silence is never empty,” Moluli told Die Matie. “It either protects confidence or erodes it.”
In a follow-up response to Die Matie on 6 May, Sangovana explained that the SRC halted portfolio spending in February after student governance funds allocated to multiple student leadership structures were mistakenly transferred into the SRC’s main cost centre. According to Sangovana, the funds reflected in the SRC account “were not entirely SRC funds”.
Sangovana clarified, “The SRC could not responsibly spend from that account. Doing so may have resulted in the use of funds belonging to other student leadership structures.”
He stated that “the Office of the Treasurer halted spending as a precautionary and accountability measure” while institutional financial processes confirmed the SRC’s allocation and separated the funds through journal transfers into individual portfolio cost centres.
He added that the International Students portfolio has since received its R30 000 allocation and that support for refugee and displaced students may be considered within that portfolio’s mandate.
Alleged future plans
Following concerns raised throughout the plenary regarding funding, representation, and institutional support, Matale reiterated the SRC’s commitment to addressing the issue moving forward. “This is now a priority,” Matale acknowledged during the sitting. She stated that awareness of the issue has been limited, but that the SRC plans to strengthen advocacy efforts and support structures for refugee students.
Speaking at the MatiesLead conference on 9 May, Matale stated that she has been “in direct contact with the Chairperson of the Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Network” to better understand the needs of refugee students. “I can sit here and say this is what we are going to do,” Matale said, “But it’s important to actually sit down with refugee students and ask them what support they need.”
In a follow-up response to Die Matie on 12 May, Matale stated that the SRC plans to engage with university stakeholders regarding access to opportunities, explore “fundraising and donor-partnership initiatives”, and create “more intentional engagement platforms where affected students can directly voice their experiences and needs”.
She added that the SRC and International Office are currently exploring a more structured engagement forum between refugee students, SRC representatives, and university staff in order to create “clearer support pathways”. According to Matale, “Students need to feel seen, heard, and meaningfully included within the institution.”
SU’s position
While the SRC noted that matters relating to immigration status fall outside its direct mandate, SU stated that various support structures already exist for refugee and displaced students through Stellenbosch University International (SUI) and the Office of the Dean of Students.
In a statement to Die Matie on 11 May, SU Media Manager, Martin Viljoen, said that support initiatives are co-ordinated through structures such as SURASN, which forms part of the Stellenbosch University Societies Council (SUSC) under the SRC.
According to the university, these support structures are “co-designed by SUI and SURASN, ensuring sustainable approaches that speak to the lived experiences and needs of the students themselves”.
The university stated that refugee and displaced students have access to “community building events”, advocacy platforms, workshops, and support initiatives linked to the African Higher Education in Emergencies Network (AHEEN), which also provides “support in other tangible ways such as funding for scholarships”.
Regarding concerns surrounding xenophobia and student safety, the Office of the Dean of Students stated that it was “not aware of any formal complaints or any concerns recently shared” relating to xenophobic incidents. However, the university encouraged students who experience such incidents to report them to the Equality Unit or SAPS.
The university further acknowledged that “certain bursaries are indeed only for South African citizens”, despite their ongoing efforts to provide equal access to financial support for students.As discussions surrounding refugee and displaced students continue within both SRC and university structures, students, refugees and representatives alike have called for more visible, consistent and structured support moving forward. While both the SRC and SU have acknowledged existing gaps and outlined ongoing initiatives, refugee students who spoke during the plenary and in a follow-up response to Die Matie maintain that meaningful inclusion will ultimately depend on sustained action rather than institutional recognition alone.
