Zuma to meet student leaders after protests against fee hikes
October 22, 2015, 7:37 am

Students protest against tuition fee increases at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Oct. 20, 2015 [Xinhua]

“The President will hold consultative meetings with the Vice-Chancellors and Chairpersons of Councils as well as with student leaders at the Union Buildings in Pretoria with a view to finding a solution to the impasse,” said an official statement.

The students have rejected a proposal hammered out by some student leaders, university chiefs and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande on Tuesday that would cap fee increases at 6 per cent for 2016 in line with inflation at 4.6 per cent.

President Zuma met the Vice-Chancellors and Chairpersons of Councils on 6 October and they had agreed to establish a task team to explore solutions to short-term student funding challenges.

The President said government fully understands the pressure and difficulties that students coming from poor households and the working class face.

“It is important that we work together to find solutions. Nobody disagrees with the message that students from poor households are facing financial difficulties and possible exclusion,” said Zuma.

“Even in the January 8 statement of the governing party this year, we stated that the escalating cost of university education had become another source of exclusion for the poor and vulnerable South African child.

“All parties should allow space for this matter to be discussed in a manner that will enable us to find a solution,” said the President.

South African universities initially wanted to increase tuition fees by up to 11.5 per cent, prompting students to launch a campaign of protests that began on October 13.

On Wednesday, about 150 students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitian University (NMMU) in the Eastern Cape were involved in running battles with police, who fired rubber bullets and used stun grenades to disperse the crowds.

University students burned tyres outside parliament in Cape Town and shouted at police on stand-by.

At least 14 universities around the country are taking part in the demonstrations.

South Africa’s overall student population is mostly black and hampered by tight funding and the lingering effects of discrimination dating from white-minority rule.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene delivered the national medium-term budget from parliament on Wednesday.

“It needs to be said that disruption of learning is not constructive,” Nene said. “But Minister [Blade] Nzimande has rightly indicated the need to strengthen student financing further and to find solutions where current arrangements are inadequate.”

Nene said the Treasury now expects economic growth of 1.5 per cent for this year and 1.7 per cent for the next.

TBP and Agencies