Pretoria - A call to shut down campuses this week in protest against the proposed increase in university fees has been contradicted by another student body.
While the 2016 #FeesMustFall protests started as a non-partisan effort, the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) has distanced itself from the latest planned protests. The command said the only fight it was willing to join was for free education and not the fight against fee increases, according to EFFSC spokesman Peter Keetse.
"We are very clear that we don't want to fight against the increase in fees for next year. We want to fight for free education. If we fight for the no-fee increase, that means we will protest every year," he said on Tuesday.
Keetse said instead of taking part in any protests, the organisation would concentrate on SRC elections.
"We want to make sure that we win as many campuses as possible. We want to tell the students on the ground what is important for us," he said.
Keetse said the latest protests, punted by the South African Union of Students (SAUS), among other organisations, was opportunistic. "Where was SAUS last year? If we are part of any protest, it will be one led by us. We will not be part of a bogus arrangement," he said.
On Monday, Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande asked that there be no protests on campuses while he was consulting on the Council of Higher Education (CHE) report that had recommended that fees be increased for next year.
The council's report recommends that fees be increased for the 2017 academic year by at least 8% to avoid universities being unable to meet their financial obligations. Nzimande hopes to finish consultations by the end of the month.
The SACP yesterday joined the bandwagon in demanding that fees not be increased for 2017. Ironically, Nzimande is the party's general secretary.
Spokesman Alex Mashilo said: "The SACP reaffirms its policy position for a progressive rollout of free higher education and training for the historically disadvantaged."
In their submissions to the fees commission set up by President Jacob Zuma earlier this year to investigate the feasibility of free education, SAUS said the government and the private sector should pull their weight and fund higher education. SAUS also wants a "wealth tax".
On Monday, the universities of Pretoria, KwaZulu-Natal's Pietermaritzburg campus as well as Mangosuthu University of Technology all closed their campuses because of fee increase protests.
Pretoria News