No fee rise or get set for battle, universities told
THE SA Students Congress has warned universities to not try to initiate fee increase discussions, failing which they must be prepared to “meet in the battlefields”.
At a press briefing in Johannesburg yesterday, Sasco said any talk about the 2017 academic year fee increases was “sub judice”.
The organisation is angry that the University of Johannesburg tried to include fee increases as part of a council agenda. Sasco also accuses UJ of intimidating students who didn’t want to discuss fee increases by suspending them.
UJ announced the suspension of 17 students suspected of being involved in the burning of an auditorium earlier this year.
Sasco president Thabo Moloja said: “No one has been arrested or confronted by the police. Only when the item of fees comes up are students then suspended. (Vice-chancellor Ihron) Van Rensburg is just terrorising students.”
UJ spokeswoman Kaamini Reddy dismissed that claim.
“The latest desperate claims regarding fee increases at UJ are aimed at provoking our students, yet these are far from the truth. The fact is that fees for 2017 are still under discussion, as are measures to secure the sustainability of universities, and measures to achieve expanded funded access,” Reddy said.
Sasco secretary Thembani Makata said when the organisation met the Fees Commission it “utterly rejected” the postponement of the report-back from this month to March 2017.
“This left us in the middle of nowhere. What then happens in January, because the commission was to put an end to #FeesMustFall? But now there is no discussion on what will happen now. There is no interim solution.”
Today Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande is expected to speak on recommendations on next year’s fee increases. On fears that universities would not be able to meet their financial obligations if fees are not increased again next year, Moloja said: “They did not increase fees last year and the gates are still open. We are not raising things from an unreasonable point.”