South Africa universities close amid student fee protests

Protests over fee increases have forced the suspension of teaching at three of South Africa's top universities.

Protests have spread from Johannesburg's Wits University, closed last week after thousands demonstrated on campus, to the universities of Rhodes and Cape Town (UCT).

Wits University agreed to suspend a 10.5% tuition fee increase on Friday, pending negotiations with students.

Protesters argue that poorer, mainly black students would be worst affected.

A statement from Wits University said that a decline in state subsidy over the years, combined with inflationary pressures, were behind the fee increases in recent years.

Pumza Fihlani, BBC News, Johannesburg was quoted as saying; many of the affected universities are historically white institutions and while the demographics in the classrooms have changed since the end of apartheid in 1994, critics say the economic conditions of black families wanting to enrol their children have all but remained the same.

Black students say the institutions' high fees are now keeping them from getting a good education. Many say they rely on student loans and scholarships and these are at times difficult to secure.

It does not take much for an issue to become racially charged here in South Africa as the country still nurses a hang-over from decades of white minority rule.

But ironically it is the "born-free" generation, those born after the advent of democracy, now calling for transformation in the elite institutions. Some are calling for free education hoping this will level the playing fields between the affluent and the poor.

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, appearing on national broadcaster SABC, said that he was convening a meeting on Tuesday for university administrators, employees and student leaders to discuss fee increases.

The minister urged university authorities "to exercise greater caution and sensitivity in the process of determining fee increases", saying a solution would need to balance the difficulties of poorer students with the financial pressures currently facing the system.

Source: BBC