Johannesburg - The EFF’s student command on Wednesday promised that it would assist students who defied university rules and conducted walk-ins to register for 2018.
"Fighters will marshal students to different registration centres to avoid stampedes and long queues," said spokesperson Magaliso Sambo in a Facebook post.
"Fighters must also assist walk-ins with food, sanitary towels and ensure safety and security for every student in and around campus."
Sambo said a 'Sizofundangenkani Campaign', which would encourage walk-ins, was being launched "as a means of bridging the gap between those who have access to online and those who do not".
"We also encourage walk-ins because we know the online application process usually takes time and has a lot of irregularities and cannot be trusted."
Sambo said that the EFFSC members would also be at various schools on Friday "to remind them [matriculants] that education is now for free in South Africa".
Branding Universities South Africa (USAf) as "nothing but agents of neo-colonialism and barriers of progress," Sambo urged students to ignore "USAf’s discouragement of this generational call".
This week USAf announced that walk-in registration and enrolment would not be allowed during the busy registration period at the start of the year.
READ: SA universities will not accept 'walk-in' applications
Recently, the main body of the Economic Freedom Fighters has been urging financially needy, academically deserving students to report to colleges and universities during registration, saying that university managers should not use bureaucratic impediments as an excuse.
USAf's Professor Ahmed Bawa labelled the call by the EFF as reckless and warned of the dangers of advocating for walk-ins.
In December President Jacob Zuma announced that free education would be rolled out for poor and working-class students, starting with first years for 2018.
The announcement was also made when applications to all 26 universities across the country were closed.
