#FeesMustFall Protesters Push DA Leader to Leave UCT Campus

A group of protesters at the University of Cape Town booed and shouted at Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane as they pushed to make him leave the campus today. See video below.

The DA leader had gone to UCT to meet with the latest of a growing number of students protesting fees at universities across South Africa. The protests began a week ago at Wits University when a #WitsFeesMustFall campaign swept across social media following a proposed hike in fees for next year of 10.5 percent.

The hike at Wits has since been suspended, but not without the hashtag going through several incarnations, with today’s being #UCTFeesMustFall, #UCTShutDown (as UCT suspended classes) and the more general #FeesMustFall.

Students at Rhodes University have also been protesting with police using stun grenades to disperse students; and today those at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape also began protesting. There are reports that Pretoria University is bracing itself for protests as well.

Here’s an insightful – and moving – summary of the events so far, in which one student at Rhodes says “We are merely fighting for an education. That’s it…We’re fighting to open the doors so that every black child…can have a chance at playing a role in developing the economy of this country. And you want to shoot at us?”

 
In a statement this afternoon, Maimane said: “Today I visited the University of Cape Town (UCT) to listen to the concerns of students regarding the funding crisis at institutions of higher education.

“But the legitimate concerns of students were drowned out by the voices of SASCO who are defending the failures of the ANC and Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande.”

Maimane said this is not a fight between students “but against a government that is not addressing exorbitant fee increases and the chronic underfunding of higher education institutions and NSFAS.”

He accused the Education Minister of shifting the blame to university management and being conspicuous in his absence on campuses.

Maimane said: “We cannot allow privilege to be perpetuated at universities by a government that is denying poor students an opportunity to improve their lives through education. This is a basic requirement for accessing an increasingly competitive job market.”

He said that over the past 20 years university enrolment has more than doubled while funding per student head has declined from R20,187 in 1994 to R16,764 in 2014.

Over the same period university fees have apparently escalated at a pace much higher than inflation.

Maimane said that “qualifying students are being left without the means to afford an education and the opportunity to work towards a future they value.”

Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene is expected to announce government plans on how to address this crisis in his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) tomorrow.

Maimane said: “Freedom without opportunity is not a freedom one can use.”

The DA leader was not the only campus visitor to feel unwelcome today. Popular South African rapper AKA was also not warmly received at the #WitsFeesMustFall protest, with students in Joburg tweeting that they would prefer he supported from afar.

And in a separate – but related – incident, protesters gathered at the Shoprite in Khayelitsha Mall this morning, with placards demanding #BreadPricesMustFall.

Watch Video – Protesting UCT students tell Mmusi Maimane to leave

In Rondebosch today

#FeesMustFall WATCH: protesting students dispersing from Rondebosch police station following mass demonstration. SS pic.twitter.com/LOykHEEi0J

— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) October 20, 2015