DUT refutes defunding claims following tragic student death

THE Durban University of Technology (DUT) has dismissed media reports suggesting that a third-year student took his own life due to losing funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

- SIPHESIHLE BUTHELEZI [e-mail]

The university said in a statement, shared on their Facebook page and with students and staff, that Sphiwokuhle Madela, a BHSc Diagnostic Radiography student in the Faculty of Health Sciences, was fully funded by NSFAS and was not part of the NSFAS exceptions file, commonly referred to as “defunded students”.