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Cape Town - The Durban University of Technology (DUT) student who committed suicide was given National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding and had been informed, High Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday.
According to rumours circulating at the university, Lindelani Myeza took his own life on Friday night after being denied NSFAS assistance.
However, Nzimande said he had been in contact with DUT and NSFAS and had been informed that Myeza's funding had been approved.
"I read the story [on Monday] morning... and as soon as I read it I got in touch with the university and NSFAS," he told reporters in Parliament.
The minister quoted from a NSFAS statement confirming Myeza's funding had been approved.
"He had been informed about this at the time of his death. The university further pointed out, though, that the matter is subject to police investigation but there's some indication there was some altercation... he was involved in."
Nzimande declined to give further details.
"We can only wait for the police," he said.
DUT announced on Tuesday that the academic programme had been suspended for two days in the wake of widespread student protests following the death.
Myeza, who was living in the Persada Residence in Berea, Durban, fell to his death from the sixth floor of the building.
He was a first-year student in the university's management sciences faculty. He was already registered and entered residence last Tuesday, February 9.
