-
South Africa: Annual Student Fee Protests are Like a Soap Opera - Education Minister
Daily Maverick, 23 March 2021
Lasting solutions for the ongoing student protests need to be found, Parliament heard on Tuesday. This comes as student protests continue for a second week with no clear end in… Read more »
-
South Africa: Rhodes University Campus Shut All Week By Students
GroundUp, 19 March 2021
Students have blocked all entrances to Rhodes University campus turning away staff and workers. Read more »
-
South Africa: Wits SRC Wants Parliament to Call Police to Order
Daily Maverick, 18 March 2021
The Student Representative Council of Wits University wants Parliament to intervene in student leadership 'victimisation' by the university and to call for a meeting with the… Read more »
-
South Africa: An Urgent Review of Student Funding Is Needed
Daily Maverick, 17 March 2021
Jacob Zuma has left the country with a prickly problem. His Cabinet accepted his wilful decree of free higher education without objecting. But the National Student Financial Aid… Read more »
-
South Africa: Explainer - the University Debt and Students' Protest Trap
Daily Maverick, 16 March 2021
Every year, students who deserve to study at university but can't afford it are excluded. Youth movements protest, universities and the state make stop-gap concessions and the… Read more »
Will South Africa's Tertiary Fees Crisis Ever Be Solved?
Lasting solutions for ongoing student protests need to be found, Parliament has heard. This comes after Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande said student protests have become an annual issue, comparing their regularity to a soap opera. Nzimande said the heart of the issue was that "National Student Financial Aid Scheme students were catered [for]", but the problem was with students who fell into the missing middle category. Multiple institutions across the country have been affected by student demonstrations with the South African Union of Students calling for a nationwide university shutdown after an impasse with Nzimande over issues of student debt, access to laptops, and a delayed start to the 2021 academic year. The students' call for lower tuition fees echo those which started the #FeesMustFall movement which saw demonstrations reach the gates of Parliament in Cape Town during 2016.
InFocus
-
Protests among South African students over high tuition fees have spread across the country with the South African Union of Students announcing that 26 universities are in favour ... Read more »
-
Violence broke out in Cape Town's CBD after several thousand students marched to Parliament to demand "free decolonised education" when Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivered ... Read more »
University of Cape Town students protesting against the financial exclusion of those who are unable to pay fees or who have historic debt (file photo).
