Distance learning is well-known to students in South Africa. Previous studies have focused mainly on face-to-face tutorials. This study aimed to investigate student support and student performance in online tutorials using the theory of transactional distance. A census survey and quantitative approach were used to achieve the research objectives. A structured online questionnaire was used to collect data from 101 students enrolled to attend online tutorial classes provided by the Facilitation of Learning unit in the University of South Africa's (Unisa) north-eastern region. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the F-test were performed. The findings showed that the majority of students in rural areas used laptops (59.3%) and cell phones (68.3%); therefore, open distance e-learning universities and colleges should consider providing data to students for learning purposes. In addition, the findings showed that students participated in fewer than five online tutorial sessions (39/101). To track student attendance and measure online student performance, the students should be invited to attend online classes via a link, which would direct them to a university portal, where they would use a verifiable student number and password to log in. On the university portal, the student should be enabled to select the campus or regional site they want use to access classes scheduled for the day and join these through MS Teams.