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The Wits University students who are on hunger strike say the country cannot go anywhere unless black people have equal access to education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The students have vowed to continue their strike until their demands for inclusive education are met.<\/p>\n The strike action, which began on Friday, was sparked by the academic exclusion of some students due to outstanding debt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Wits SRC has since pledged to stand in solidarity with financially struggling students, insisting that the hunger strike will continue until all students are allowed to register, regardless of their outstanding debt.<\/p>\n As the students grew increasingly frail on day four without food, they say they are willing to risk fainting or hospitalisation to ensure that all deserving students gain access to education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of the participating students, Feziwe Ndwayana, emphasised that: \u201cStudents cannot go back and be turned away when education is a right and it isn’t a privilege.”<\/p>\n “I’m a mother. I can’t imagine my son coming to university one day and the conditions are still the same,” she added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>“It’s 10 years after Fees Must Fall, and things just seem to be getting worse, ” she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With the academic year underway, the students have condemned Wits University’s policy, which allows NSFAS and bursary-funded students to register if they owe less than R130 000, while privately funded students are expected to settle half their debt.<\/p>\n Tensions ran high after the protesting students were removed from an SRC boardroom, where they were camping.<\/p>\n The lighting of incense by the unregistered students during a traditional prayer ceremony sparked the verbal spat.<\/p>\n