Cameroonian students stranded in South Africa

A number of international students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth are stranded in South Africa because of study permit delays.

The students, mainly from Cameroon and Zimbabwe, have been waiting for more than six months for their visa renewals.

This means they are unable to leave South Africa or visit their home countries.

Kamdem Fabrice, 28, a third-year engineering student, said the wait had affected his studies.

“It affects my concentration. I can’t focus at all. It has also affected my results.”

Fabrice went to the Visas Facilitation Services Global, which manages visas on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs, to complain.

“But they said they couldn’t help me because their role was just to receive and send an applicant’s documentation to [the department’s head office in Pretoria],” he said.

Fabrice said it upset him that he could not go back to Cameroon.

The students are allowed to carry on studying until a decision is made by Home Affairs about their visas.

Sanda Oumarou Younouss, 28, who is studying towards a master’s degree in development finance, said his application was rejected because it did not have a police clearance. In the place of a police clearance, he submitted an affidavit but his application was still rejected.

Many students battled to get police clearance certificates because of the Post Office strike earlier this year.

Younouss said he had wanted to spend Ramadan and Eid with his family in Cameroon but due to the visa delays, he could not leave South Africa.

Nico Jooste, the university’s senior director of international education, said the problem was not only at NMMU.

“The solution is for Home Affairs to have a dedicated students visa section. But the university will not cancel students' registration if the outcome of this application is still in the hands of Home Affairs.”

Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said the department would look into the matter. VFS Global in Port Elizabeth declined to comment.