Everything you need to know about the #FeesMustFall protests
JOBURG - President Jacob Zuma will be meeting various university management teams and student representatives at the Union Buildings in Pretoria today (23 October) in a bid to find common ground over the proposed tuition fee increases.
Protests by students against the fee increases, which started at Wits University and then spread to universities countrywide, have been ongoing for a week.
Earlier, Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, had met with vice-chancellors and agreed to cap fees at 6 percent for 2016, but the students rejected the offer and have demanded a 0 percent increase.
The protests have led to a shutdown of almost all university campuses in the country.
South African Students Congress Gauteng deputy chairperson Sthembiso Ndlovu said, “We are going to shut down all institutions until management hears that we don’t want fees. We believe that this is the only vehicle to achieve free education in our lifetime.”
Ndlovu said the protests were sparked by the proposed increase of fees by 17 percent at the Tshwane University of Technology, 40 percent at the University of Pretoria and 10.5 percent at Wits University. The action has also united students of different race groups but has been spoiled by reports of looting, violence and intimidation. In one incident, riot police fired teargas and stun grenades at hundreds of students who stormed the Parliament precinct in Cape Town.
Police repeatedly attempted to disperse the students from the steps of the national assembly, with limited success, as the protesters tried to stage a sit-in to disrupt a mid-term budget speech being delivered by Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene. At least one student was injured, and several students were detained.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International affiliated to universities in South Africa, has voiced its support for the students. In a statement the organisation said, “We would like to express our support to the nationwide #FeesMustFall movement. The right to education, including higher education, is a human right. International human rights law and the South African Constitution puts an obligation on the State to progressively make higher education more accessible to everyone.”
It further stated that the fee increase exacerbated the academic exclusion of poor and working class students, and it may constitute a human rights violation and could be unconstitutional.
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