Officials say 31 people have died in protest-related violence so far, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 have been killed including medics and children. (Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)
President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande spoke at the Higher Education Stakeholder Summit this morning, where both concluded that universities must re-open. But so far, a solution to the students’ demands for free education has yet to be found.
Both Zuma and Nzimande were speaking at the summit in Kempton Park this morning. The summit was announced last week after various universities around the country had been shutdown for two consecutive weeks, following Nzimande’s announcement that fee increases were possible in 2017. Nzimande said that the summit was being held to come to a solution regarding the crisis in universities at the moment.
Last week, the University of Witwatersrand held a poll which indicated that 77% of Wits students voted for classes to resume this week. The university announced that the academic programme would continue on Tuesday. The University of Cape Town (UCT) also held a mass protest on Friday, where crowds of academics and students called for the university to re-open today. The university released a statement saying the shutdown would end on Monday, but some academics have said they will not teach students amid the increased security presence the university has hired following its decision to open today.
Nzimande addressed the outcomes of the Wits’ poll, saying students who are continuing protests are creating an environment of anarchy.
“We are faced with a minority of students who are determined to bring our higher education system to a halt, while the overwhelming majority of students are either in class or want nothing more than to be there,” Nzimande said.
“We meet here as a thread of a small minority that is determined to spread anarchy and destroy those assets the nation has dedicated to the empowerment of this and the next generation.”
Nzimande: protests have been highjacked
Students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Wits University, the University of Limpopo and the University of KwaZulu-Natal are just a few of the tertiary communities who have witnessed violence on campus in the past weeks. Nzimande said that violent protest action has delegitimised the #FeesMustFall movement.
“What started as legitimate and peaceful protests now seems to have been highjacked by elements who seem to want to collapse the system,” he said.
The minister, however, did not address the violence from public order police and private security which has been heavy-handed in the last weeks. On Wednesday, private security at UJ’s Doornfontein campus threw rocks and pepper sprayed peaceful students, while the previous week, private security also threw rocks at Wits students. A video last week went viral showing riot police firing rubber bullets at peaceful protesters at the Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
The minister said that the new wave of #FeesMustFall protests had come at a time when government had increased funding to the higher education department and when the fee increases for poor families and the so-called missing middle would be covered. Students, however, have said that they are continuing to protest because their demands concern free education and not fee increments.
Zuma: ANC is behind free education for poor
President Zuma reiterated Nzimande’s comments whilst pledging that the ruling party supports free education for the poor, although protesters have called for free education for all South Africans.
“Let me state upfront that the call for free higher education for the poor is that of the African National Congress,” Zuma said.
“We have heard the call of students loudly and clearly. We have been doing everything possible to assist students from poor households to obtainpost-schooll education since 1994.”
The president went on to say that because NSFAS students and the so-called missing middle will no longer pay fee increases, 75% of students have been covered for 2017. A task team has also been working on a model to increase higher education access for those in the missing middle, and the model will be piloted in 2017 and then implemented if it works in 2018.
Zuma said that in light of the progress that is under way, universities should be re-opened.
“We don’t agree with those who say that universities should be shut down while these solutions are being sought by government and stakeholders,” Zuma said.
“We don’t agree with those who say the future of our youth and the future of our country must be put on hold.”
He also spoke out against damages to property and encouraged students to communicate through dialogue instead.
“The destruction of university property that we have witnessed are shocking, criminal acts. The problems of education funding can never justify the violence and destruction including the loss of human life and injury,” Zuma said.
“This is not the future we want of young people who resort to violence and intimidation to communicate what they would like to be done.”
The president said that police have been instructed to arrest people who use violence on campus, suggesting that violent protesters are not part of the movement. In the course of the protests, many students including some who are bystanders, have been arrested by police.
“We have directed police to arrest those who are using the genuine grievances of students to commit serious crimes on campuses,” Zuma said.