Earlier this month, 32 students were arrested after a law library at the University of KwaZulu-Natal was torched following protests over tuition fees.
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The University of Cape Town has suspended all lectures for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Those who could afford it should pay, as it would let government help poor students.
The protests continued on Tuesday and became increasingly violent with running battles between students and security guards at the Wits main campus.
The students later discarded their rocks and entered the building under heavy police presence, where they gathered in a hall seeking an audience with university authorities.
Student representative Fasiha Hassan said: “Students were fired at with rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades”, adding that protests would continue “until our demands are met”.
Attempting to deter the protesting students from marching to the education campus, police threw stun grenades on the corner of Empire and St Andrews roads but the infuriated and adamant group marched on through the bangs and smoke.
Zane Mncam, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Student Command Chairperson of South Campus, is prepared to strike for as long as there is solidarity in the cause for free education.
The students, roused by the chorus of struggle songs, amassed outside Pietermaritzburg’s provincial legislature to demand free education.
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) said in a statement that all its campuses are closed.
Universities South Africa (USAF) has welcomed the advice by Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande on fee adjustments for the 2017 academic year. The increases are however capped at eight percent.
He said that the use of excessive force and violence to deal with protests was likely to “invite violent retaliation” which could result in the destruction of public property and injury.
Students returned to class but activists not aligned to the SRC, and under the banner of Fees Must Fall, have threatened to shut down the university on Wednesday.
University students across the country have vowed to join their colleagues in solidarity protests against the fee hikes. He left it to individual universities to decide what their increases would be.
“It is very unclear to government why families who can afford private schools should, under the current circumstances, be receiving further state subsidies for their children at universities”, Mr Nzimande said.
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He said the proposed department subsidisation of fee increases for some students would benefit a significant proportion of their students.
