Wits SRC wants free on-campus Covid-19 tests for students who don't want to vaccinate
SRC president laments financial implications of proposed weekly Covid-19 tests, saying NSFAS beneficiaries and cleaners cannot afford to travel to clinics
Image: Sandile Ndlovu
The Wits University student representative council (SRC) will today make formal submissions to the institution over mandatory vaccinations for students and staff.
Last week, the university proposed a mandatory vaccine framework that will require students and staff who choose not to vaccinate to get weekly Covid-19 tests, whether they show symptoms or not. The tests will be done at their own cost.
Speaking to TimesLIVE on Friday, SRC president Nhlonipho Nxumalo lamented the financial implications of such a decision, saying students, particularly NSFAS beneficiaries, and cleaners cannot afford to travel to local clinics to get tested.
“We are given a choice on paper but in practicality, we don't have a choice ... We don't have a clinic at Braamfontein. A student who wants to do a test has to go to Hillbrow or Parktown. A student who gets R1,500 from NSFAS has to travel to and from Parktown — it's impractical, especially for a poor black child,” said Nxumalo.
The council has proposed that the university provide free weekly tests for students who don't want to vaccinate.
A statement issued by the council via social media on Monday garnered backlash from those who accused it of being anti-vaxxers.
Nxumalo says this is simply not true. The council, she says, is pro-choice.
“People have taken it out of context. We are not against people vaccinating, we are not trying to push a certain narrative that people must not vaccinate. The president of the SRC publicly vaccinated ... We do encourage people to go and vaccinate, the SRC is not anti-vaxxers. We are anti-procedures that are trying to indirectly force people to vaccinate,” said Nxumalo.
She called on the university to educate the students on the vaccine.