Throngs of university students nationwide protested all week to call for cancellation of a tuition increase set to go into effect next year.
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Students from across the country have crammed onto buses and trains to travel to Pretoria to join the march.
The South African Police Service said it arrested six students for “illegal protests” in Cape Town.
The Presidency said in a statement that Zuma would address the nation at 14:45, though by 15:00 the broadcast had not yet started.
Thousands of students gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demonstrate against planned university tuition hikes. “We agreed that there will be a zero increase of university fees in 2016”, he said.
The president says a task team will be responsible for looking into these matters.
A metro police officer was also seen pulling out a pistol while students threw rocks. Police have responded with smoke grenades and water cannons.
“Yes, we have a massive problem with racism, but its more cultural and between the haves and the have nots”, Reddit user flamingspiral wrote, in response to a video that showed white students barricaded in a classroom while protestors shut down the university outside.
The protests reflect a wider frustration over the government’s inability to cut widespread poverty and inequality two decades after the end of white-minority rule.
After the fall of apartheid, South Africans, particularly students and young people, struggled to find their own voice.
For Zuma, announcing the end of fee increases for this year in a terse five minute speech was enough.
An agreement was also reached with universities to extend the time allocated to exams so as to make up for lost time.
Roshuma Phungo of the South African Institute of Race Relations argues that it is possible to increase government subsidies to enable free undergraduate education.
In Cape Town, students reacted with tears and jubilation as news spread of Zuma’s announcement, with cheers heard outside Parliament.
A raucous crowd of thousands listened to speakers and chanted slogans outside the ANC’s offices in downtown Johannesburg before student leaders handed over a list of demands, including a freeze on tuition increases, to ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. Another said: “Dear Mr. President: How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?” “Yesterday the DA leader tabled a couple of ideas where we can shift funding from, say VIP protection unit”.
“The meeting will discuss the current countrywide impasse between universities and students regarding the proposed annual fee increments”, the president’s office said ahead of the talks.
There were similar scenes on Monday night when students occupied the Bremner building at the Univerity of Cape Town.
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“For us the time to decide when we have the momentum that we have, what can we do to get the attention that we want”.
