Wits University students clash with security, 9 March 2021, during a protest as they demand that all academically deserving students must be allowed to register, including those with historical debt. Picture: Michel Bega
The South African Students Congress (Sasco) has called for a national shutdown of all institutions of higher learning from today.
Sasco said it will shut down institutions until several of its demands are met and make tertiary institutions ungovernable if students who can’t pay for registration fees are turned away.
Among those demands were the clearing of historical debts and free registrations.
According to Sasco president Bamanye Matiwane, many students haven’t been allowed to register as they were not able to settle their outstanding university bills, with some parents losing their jobs due to the pandemic.
Matiwane said it was unacceptable that underprivileged deserving students were being deprived of an education.
“We have a lot of demands that have not been met and until [they] are met we will be on the streets.”
Matiwane said this had been an ongoing struggle, so they were extending the scope and shutting down universities and technical vocational education and training colleges.
Now that the registration period had started, they would make sure all institutions allowed free registrations.
“We are in a pandemic and many people have lost their jobs and do not have the money to pay.
“Students need to study while the government comes up with a plan to take care of their historic debts,” said Matiwane.
Last week, the South African Union of Students (Saus) also threatened to call for a national shutdown of all tertiary campuses from today if Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande did not respond to its demands by 5pm last Friday.
In a statement Saus claimed: “Vice-chancellors across the country are comfortable with earning high salaries that go up to R5 million in return to sanction murderous police on their own students; they are complicit in the violence and death of students and citizens who are violated and killed by instructions from university management.”
The protest against financial exclusion started in Braamfontein and resulted in police opening fire on students, leading to the death of Mthokozisi Ntumba. The momentum has now spread to campuses across the country.
– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za
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