Anger over Zuma’s no-show

THOUSANDS of students who descended on Pretoria to take their protests against fee hikes for next year to President Jacob Zuma won a victory yesterday.

“On the matter at hand, there will be a zero increase of fees in 2016,” Zuma said.

He said the meeting agreed that government had to look at a range of issues regarding education. “These include free education, institutional autonomy, racism, accommodation and what the students call ‘black debt’, to mention a few,” the president said.

He pleaded with students to have the patience to allow the government to find solutions to their demands in the long term.

“Government understands the difficulties faced by students from poor households and urge all affected to allow the process to unfold to find long-term solutions in order to ensure access to education by our students.”

But moments after Zuma made his announcement, thousands were seen running for cover at the Union Buildings as members of the public order policing unit moved in, trying to disperse them.

Some students burnt a tyre, after which mobile toilets also caught fire. Billowing dark smoke was visible from most areas of the city.

Earlier, police fired rubber bullets after protesters began pelting them with rocks. And although it was unclear what had sparked the behaviour, it came after the crowd had waited hours for Zuma’s meeting with vice-chancellors and student leaders to end.

The clash was quelled briefly when an announcement was made that the discussions had been concluded and that Zuma would be bringing them positive news.

Minutes later, all hell broke lose when Zuma announced on TV that there would be no increase, instead of making a personal appearance.

Protesters attacked police officers with rocks and sticks, and police responded with more stun grenades and tear gas, as well as rubber bullets. Violencespilled into Arcadia and Sunnyside. Several streets were closed as clashes with police continued. A police car was set ablaze.

OCTOBER 24 2015