Pretoria - Violence can never be the solution to economic problems or the plight of the poor, Judge Hans Fabricius said on Wednesday morning.
“If I could remedy the inequities of the past, I would,” said the judge in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
He then turned down an urgent application by a group of students from the University of Limpopo to overturn the recommendation by Minister of HIgher Education Blade Nzimande on the increase in university fees for next year.
The students asked that decision made by President Jacob Zuma of a 0% increase in student fees for this year stood until Nzimande had received a final report from the Commission of inquiry into HIgher Education and Training. The students asked that the no-fee increase decision by Zuma remained in place for now.
In turning down the application, the judge said the universities had not yet made a decision regarding fee increases.
He said the president had made no binding decision and added that it was clear that no action by government in this matter could justify the present violence which was presently ongoing at universities.
The judge said he had sympathy with the plight of the students, but in this case there was no legal basis for the relief sought by them.
He, however, commended them for turning to court, rather than resorting to acts of violence. The judge appealed to all other students to follow the same lawful course.
Pretoria News