A group of students from the University of Pretoria has been inspired by the difficulties they had to overcome as students. These difficulties range from sleeping in libraries to historical debt that keeps students from graduating. The group has decided to take a stand and embarked on a journey to bring change to not only their situation but to be a voice for students' rights across South Africa.

The #Walk4Access is a peaceful journey, a student-led, student-developed initiative that aims to rally all South Africans around the real burdens of the cost of higher education. According to Immanuel Landman, they are looking for student activists around the country and want students to come up with positive solutions for student problems. “This is a student initiative, it is not a university initiative, and the vice-chancellor, Professor Tawana Kupe, has given us full support for this initiative,” said Landman.

The initiative specifically aims at raising awareness and funds to address the financial exclusion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and to deal with issues of student hunger and housing. The walk started on 21 March 2019 on Human Rights day at the Parliament in Cape Town and the students intend to have concluded the route by 10 April when they hope to meet up with President Cyril Ramaphosa or the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where a memorandum will be handed over.

The campaign aims to raise R4 million over the duration of the walk and auditing partners of the University of Pretoria will provide auditing services for the funds raised. The group consists of Mathias Shunmugman, Marcus Mashinini, Rehandre Landman, Musa Sain Manganyi, Tona Moroke, Melissa Ndlhovo, Tshomarelo Motuan, Surprise Silowe and Immanuel Landman.

Marcus Mashinini, a student at UP, said that as students they are not going to sit around and wait for government but they will try and come up with positive solutions. 

“As students, we are a community and we are trying to level the playing field for everyone. There are people who are in a privileged position and they might not understand the struggle of other students, however, we know that people see these things happening. I, for many years, have seen so many students sleeping in the library, toilets and at some point I did not have accommodation and I had to sleep in the library myself. So it is also about understanding the issues and the reason why we want students to come together because this issue is not just a University of Pretoria issue but also an issue at other universities and at TVET colleges. We are trying to rally all students to say we are coming up with positive solutions, we are being proactive in sorting out these issues,” Mashinini said.

The #WALK4ACCESS campaign wishes to appeal to all students, especially at institutions of higher learning, to stand in solidarity with the initiative while encouraging them and all South Africans to donate at least R2 each day for the duration of the walk, whilst corporates and the private sector are encouraged to extend their generosity.

The group will also be at the University of the Free State during the course of the day to raise awareness among students.

Follow the group’s journey on all social media platforms @walk4access.

#walk4access on interview with Bloemfontein kurant and OFM. Please donate on https://t.co/bjHl42ecHl or check the poster @AdvBarryRoux @Dischem @EdgarsFashion @BlueBullsRugby @LionsRugbyCo @futurelifeza @KaizerChiefs @SteersSA @SpecSaversSA @ThuliMadonsela3 @Abramjee @Odeeka1 pic.twitter.com/Hj4vfWsiNf

— @walk4access (@walk4access) April 2, 2019

Bloemfontein Courant/Pierce van Heerden