We will not stop protesting Zimasa Matiwane
Students threaten disruption while awaiting fees commission outcome, writes
FEESMustFall protests have re-emerged in sporadic protests around the country over the past week. This followed student bodies’ disappointment with the fees commission inquiry into whether free education was feasible and the delayed response from the minister of higher education, Blade Nzimande, on whether there will be fee increment in 2017.
The student movement, which unleashed widespread protests and university shut-downs in October 2015, demanded free education and government took a decision not to increase fees for the 2016 academic year.
President Jacob Zuma then appointed a commission of inquiry into the feasibility of free higher education, the commission is still ongoing.
South Africa Union of Students (SAUS) said the fees commission should consider ways to implement free education, rather than debate on the feasibility of free education.
Expectations of a fee increase were heightened by evidence given to the fees commission by the Treasury, which showed that officials had not budgeted for zero fee increase tuition in 2017. The Council for Higher Education (CHE) recommended an across the board inflation-related increase for universities in 2017, which sparked anger from student bodies.
The council’s report recommended that fees be increased for the 2017 academic year by at least 8 percent to avoid universities being unable to meet their financial obligations.
Last week, Nzimande asked that there be no protests on campuses while he was consulting on the CHE report. He is expected to finish consultations by the month’s end.
Meanwhile, students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal protested and disrupted lectures at Westville and Pietermaritzburg campuses last week, prompting the university to suspend lectures.
Nesh Khumalo, president of South African Student Congress (Sasco) at UKZN Westville campus said that the protests and shutdowns were in line with SAUS and Progressive Youth Alliance’s call for no fee increment until the fees commission produced its findings on a way forward.
“We received a call from SAUS that told us that they were not agreeing with government and stakeholders at the fees commission. We couldn’t sit back and wait for Nzimande’s pending decision on fee increments for 2017, because we aren’t sure what the decision will be,” said Khumalo.
Khumalo said students needed assurance that there wouldn’t be a fee increase and should there be an increment, Khumalo said, they would not stop protesting.
Nzimande has called for calm, while students are preparing for a nationwide protest should there be fee increment.