Lungani Zungu
In 2019, 21 Free State students were happy when Ace Magashule took them to Turkey and promised to pay for their studies.
But now, three years later, the students, aged between 20 and 28, are stranded and starving after the Ace Magashule Foundation, which promised to sponsor their studies, has dumped them.
The students, who are studying at the private Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, were ejected from their residence and left with nothing to eat, according to the Sunday Times.
Many of the students, who come from impoverished families in the Free State, a province Magashule once led as premier, are now forced to beg to survive.
Some sleep at the local parks while others have sought shelter at the homes of Good Samaritans.
“Officials from the embassy in Ankara had to fork out money from their own pockets to put the 21 students up in two tiny two-bedroom apartments after they were evicted, leaving some sleeping in a park,” reported the Sunday Times.
Ace Magashule, who is facing mounting legal bills as he fights to retain his job, has allegedly failed to pay for the private Bogazici Student Dormitories residence where the students stayed.
The owner had warned the Ace Magashule Foundation in May that he would evict the student if he wasn’t paid.
This is the same month Magashule was suspended as ANC secretary-general owing to the charges he faces from the R255 million asbestos tender issued during his time as premier.
“Currently, some of the students are accommodated at two low-cost hotels at the cost of the embassy officials while the relevant stakeholders are being engaged,” Department of International Relations & Cooperation (Dirco) spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele, was quoted as saying.
Several attempts by Scrolla.Africa to reach Magashule were unsuccessful as his phone went to voicemail and he didn’t respond to messages.
