S’African police, students clash outside Zuma’s office

South African President Jacob Zuma has ruled out fee increases for universities next year following a week of nationwide protests by students.

From early morning students from across the country began gathering in their thousands on the sprawling lawns in front of Union Buildings to hear what Mr Zuma had to say after meeting student leaders and university officials.

“We apologise to all those who have been affected by the protests, especially our staff and students, and we thank you for your patience during this hard period”, Habib said. Among these, he said, were free education, institutional autonomy, racism, accountability and black debt.

Over the past week, thousands of students from a dozen campuses across the country took to the streets and shut down universities to protest proposed fee hikes that would increase tuition between 10 and 12 percent. But the price hike would have put higher education further out of reach for poor families, most of whom are black.

The ANC had pledged to create the post-apartheid nation of opportunity and equality, but the protesters, now and in fact throughout the year, demanded to know why they were still struggling after they were promised so much in 1994. It’s just another day in the new South Africa, except this time the President had a ringside view of the action as #FeesMustFall targeted the Union Building.

Wits University will remain closed on Monday because students have made a decision to continue with their protest, vice chancellor Adam Habib said on Saturday.

Students had gathered at the building, which they now call Solomon Mahlangu House, to strategise on a way forward with their Fees Must Fall campaign. “The presidency only attended to one demand of the memorandum that was handed to him”, said Wits University student Thabiso Bhengu.

Today’s protests were marked with pockets of unrest as other groups joined the protests. She said buses packed with students have come from Johannesburg.

Reuters reports that a few students pushed through a cordon before being pushed back by anti-riot police who also tried to douse the fires with water cannons. “This is a crisis of legitimacy for the ANC just where they don’t want it – among the youth, and particularly among the university-educated youth”, Nic Borain, a political analyst, told AFP.

On the other hand, the protests seem to have set an agenda for everyone in the country.

The statement was signed by 43 religious leaders including Dr Zandisile Magxwalisa, Archbishop of the Jerusalem Church in South Africa; Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo, of the Roman Catholic Church; and the Revd Mukondeleli Ramulondi, of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.