University student fee protests

VANESSA VALKIN

In reaction to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s announcements that the universities will have to determine their own fee increases for 2017 (but any increase should not exceed 8 per cent), chaos erupted this week at campuses across the country. By Wednesday morning most of the larger universities had closed their doors and many had bolstered security in the expectation of further violence.

Dani Hovsha, national chairman of SAUJS, said that she thinks the protests will follow a similar pattern to last year’s and that there will be more shutdowns.

When asked how involved she thought Jewish students were in the demonstrations, she said: “I think there are a lot of students who are sympathetic to the concerns but there are very few who are involved. They are put off by the violence and the vandalism and would rather support from the side-lines.”

Hovsha who is doing her honours in English and International Relations, says she is concerned about being able to finish her honours thesis which is due the first week of November. She is also a tutor to first years and there is great concern among them that they will not be prepared for their exams. Students are not allowed to meet off campus for tutorials either.

“There have been warnings not to have seminars off campus,” says Hovsha. “A shut-down is a shut-down and teachers cannot break that, they are saying.”

The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg resembled a war zone on Tuesday as chaos erupted between protesting students and private security officers.  The clashes were marked by stone throwing and clouds of smoke from fire extinguishers.

The historic Wits Great Hall was left battered and damaged. On the Library Lawns, many injured protesters received assistance from what appeared to be medical students.

In Cape Town, several hundred protesting University of Cape Town students shut down the campus on Tuesday, calling for their demands to be met.

Hillel Tradonsky, a fifth year accountancy student, said that he has had no classes this week and is just hoping he will be able to write his accounting exams which are scheduled three weeks from now.

“We are seeing a lot of frustration boiling over,” says Tradonsky. “Last year the students had calmed down and thought they were going to sort out the issues. Students were happy with the temporary suspension of fee increases.

  “A lot of frustration is aimed at the government but the
  university seems to be the outlet,” says Tradonsky. “It
  was a complete abdication of responsibility by the Minister
  of Education.”

  Hovsha speaking on behalf of SAUJS said the Jewish
  student organisation is opposed to the violence that has
  sprung up, but said “government did not take the needs
  and demands of students seriously and this was the
  inevitable outcome.

  “The best method for this is always non-violent protest
  and those who insist on violence do damage to the cause
  as a whole; I hope it will continue in a reasonable spirit,
  which is safe and inclusive for all,” she said.

Jewish students at the University of Johannesburg were not affected because it was a holiday week for them. University of Pretoria, which also has a small Jewish student population, said that classes would continue but according to reports given to SAUJS, it would be very difficult to keep classes going.