South African police fired tear gas in clashes with students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday and arsonists torched a building at another campus overnight, police said on Thursday, as protests over tuition costs spread.
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At least three South African universities suspended classes on Wednesday because of student protests over tuition fees after the government recommended above-inflation increases for 2017.
“In the present constrained fiscal environment this is an extremely challenging situation”, Treasury continued, supporting Nzimande’s decision to cover fee increases for the poor and “missing middle” while letting wealthier students pay the fee hikes.
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However, at the start of the #FeesMustFall campaign a year ago, students were mainly calling for a zero percent tuition fee increase, which government granted for 2016 following violent student protests.
The police denied firing rubber bullets – which are created to be non-lethal but can kill – and said the students’ injuries were caused by falling over while running away.
Past year the #FeesMustFall movement dominated the headlines, universities around the country rocked to their cores by defiant students.
Running on to the campus as white and green smoke billowed from the stun grenades, protesting students started pelting the police with stones from behind the gate – which seemed to have prompted the police to shoot them with rubber bullets.
Academic programmes are however ongoing while students from other campuses of the school are meeting at the main campus to continue the protest.
“This will only strengthen our resolve. government is not playing ball”, said University of Witwatersrand student Tshepo Mnguni in Johannesburg.
“He speaks of the relief a no fee increment will bring for nurses, teachers, police, social workers and other working class parents but what he fails to recognize is that universities are inaccessible for most households already”.
The Wits SRC said, “We have heard nothing from the minister about free education”.
Broader questions about free education, decolonising the university, patriarchy, outsourcing, and basically taking students’ concerns seriously were not even acknowledged…
Despite a huge police presence of police‚ students still managed to disrupt some classes.
The leaders of protest action at the UFS told OFM News’ Earl Coetzee that making this announcement before completion of the Commission for Higher Education and Training’s report on university fees, is utterly unacceptable.
The suspension would allow management to talk to students about Nzimande’s fee increase announcement on Monday.
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Both the EFF Students Command and the student representative council of Wits University say they have been consistent in their call for free tertiary education for all.
