‘All we need is for one flying brick to kill a student’

will face no increases — which includes those from the lowermiddle and working class.”

Several campuses remained closed this weekend as violence flared at the universities of Cape Town, the Witwatersrand, North West (Mahikeng campus) and others.

The worst violence and destruction of the week was reported at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where a student was wounded during running battles with the police and fires were set in its law library in Durban and an exam hall in Pietermaritzburg.

In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Nzimande said it was time for parents and other South Africans who were opposed to violence and destruction on campuses to call rioting students to order.

“No one can support the destruction at Wits and UKZN. The burning of a library is the worst form of barbarism.”

On Monday, Nzimande announced that the government would continue to provide National Student Financial Aid Scheme bursaries to academically deserving students from the neediest backgrounds, and that students from all households with a combined income of less than R600 000 per year would face no fee increases.

Students from households with incomes above R600 000 would pay up to 8% more to study next year.

“Last year, even before #FeesMustFall, vice-chancellors were aware that fee increases were becoming extremely sensitive, also because they differed so widely between universities. There was consensus that a regulatory framework was needed and that every university council could not just set its fees as it pleased. I asked the Council on Higher Education to help develop such a framework.”

Nzimande said that for 2017, it had come up with three options:

No fee increase with no added government support, meaning 19 of South Africa’s 26 universities would be in serious financial difficulty;

An increase based on consumer