Students declare ‘day of mass action’

"We will continue to protest until our demands are met... we will carry on as long as we need too."

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Johannesburg - A shutdown of universities across the country was expected from Wednesday as students vowed to “carry on for as long as we need to” in protests over fee hikes.

Even the inflation-related adjustment to fees announced by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande would not halt nationwide protests.

“It is zero percent increment or nothing,” student leaders said on Wednesday morning, declaring it “a day of mass action”.

“We don’t have a choice here. Higher education has become unaffordable and we will continue to protest until our demands are met… we will carry on as long as we need too.

“Today will be a day of mass action… there will be marches all over. In Cape Town we are marching to Parliament and in Gauteng universities like the University of Pretoria and Wits will be holding marches as well,” said SA Students’ Congress (Sasco) national secretary-general Luzuko Buku on Wednesday morning.

The University of Pretoria and that of the Free State on Wednesday suspended lectures and examinations as students at the institution joined other campuses to protest against the fee increases.

According to reports, students are also mobilising at Stellenbosch University and Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Bellville campus in Cape Town and at the Howard campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

On Wednesday morning, a line of students formed a human chain across an entrance to UCT’s Lower Campus, while others visited student residences in efforts to mobilise more people to join the protest.

Construction workers renovating part of a residence at Forest Hill were told to go home by students.

At Wits University several students were seen cleaning up the Senate House building, which they have occupied as part of the protest since the university council refused to meet them there on Monday.

A few students were still sleeping at about 7am after spending the night in the Great Hall.

 Some students said they had spent the whole night studying inside the Senate House concourse, which they renamed Solomon House after the late ANC struggle stalwart Solomon Mahlangu.

Donors delivered supplies such as food, snacks and water to students. Some university staff who supported the #FeesMustFall campaign brought pillows and blankets for the overnight stay with students.

After the announcement that there would be a 6 percent cap on fee increases on Tuesday, Wits vice-chancellor Adam Habib reportedly said he would try to negotiate with the students on Wednesday but some students said they didn’t trust the council.

“The council is negotiating in bad faith.

“They don’t have our best interests at heart,” said Ontiretse Phetlhu, a second-year education student. He didn’t trust Habib and wanted him gone.

Thandeka Nene, a law student in her final year, said the council was arrogant and that they didn’t understand that fee increases were contributing to the cycle of poverty.

On Wednesday Sasco president Ntuthuko Makhombothi said Sasco noted with caution the 6 percent fee cap announcement made by the government and Universities South Africa.

“We have noted the principled reached of an inflation-related adjustment to the fees. We, however, remain resolute that there ought to be a zero percent fee increment in all institutions and we welcome the fact that there is at least movement from the 10 or more percent proposed earlier.

“This announcement does not change our stance on no fee increment and we will continue to push forward until this call is realised.

“We call for the bailout of the higher education system by the government and the declaration of a state of emergency on education in the land,” Makhombothi said.“

We call for the end of austerity in relation to education spending by the ANC-led government.”

At North-West University’s Potchefstroom campus, some students stood together in front of the statue of Afrikaans poet Jakob Daniel du Toit, known as Totius, in a bid to stop protesting students from defacing it.

On Tuesday The Star witnessed a motorist attempting to run over students protesting outside Wits Medical School.

On Monday, a man’s vehicle was overturned and the occupant beaten after he attempted to drive through a group of protesting Wits students on Empire Road.

According to Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, no arrests had been made.

“No one has been arrested or charged yet but we are continuing our investigations

Student protests: 5 things you need to know

Protesting University of Pretoria students vowed on Wednesday that no learning or assessments would take place at the institution, unless the proposed fees hike for next year are rescinded.

“They must not increase fees, regardless of that 6 percent which Blade gave yesterday. We don’t want a fee increase because our fees are already too exorbitant for poor students,” said Karabo Sekhukhuni, spokesperson for the #UPrising students movement.

“We have the poorest of the poor students at this university. The students who sleep in the library daily, all they had was the registration fee and nothing else. Students are very hostile to that six percent. We don’t understand how Blade is advocating for that fee increase,” Sekhukhuni said.

She said the campus would be continually shut down, until.the students’ demands are met.

“We are here until our management agrees to our terms. Today the campus is shut down, but on UP terms. It will stay shut down on our terms, until they agree to our terms,” Sekhukhuni said.

Asked if the students were not concerned about failing their examinations due to lost academic time, Sekhukhuni said the exams schedules may have to be shifted.

“We are giving the management until Friday to come back to us. Part of our memorandum says if this protest takes longer than it should, then they must move all academic programming to a time when we can do it,” said the defiant student leader.

Some students who were seen wearing different political parties regalia were united in protest.

The University of Pretoria said lectures would be suspended to allow “peaceful engagement on key issues affecting the institution”.

“Tests and examinations for the said date [21 October] have been rescheduled. No student will be compromised by these adjustments to the academic programme,” the university said in a statement.

“Consequently, staff are not required to be present on campus. Only essential support service staff will be required for duty,” stated the university.

The institution’s students took to social media this week under #UPrising to mobilise for the protest. They held a night vigil at the main campus in Hatfield on Tuesday.

ilanit.chernick@inl.co.za

kate.morrissey@inl.co.za

The Star and ANA

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