Most universities do not require all applicants to pay application fees and may exempt applicants from paying application fees based on the following factors:

• Quintile 1–4 school learners may not be required to pay application fees at some universities like Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, Wits University, the University of Pretoria, and many more. To find out your school’s quintile ranking, click here: https://apply.org.za/whats-my-schools-quintile-ranking/.
• Some institutions, like Wits University, may consider applications without some applicants paying an application fee if the learner is seen to be possibly from a non-paying school.

It is ultimately important to check with the university you are applying to to see if they allow exemptions/waive application fees based on socio-economic factors.

A list of all university application fees can be found here: https://apply.org.za/application-fees.