Pretoria – An annoucement by President Jacob Zuma on Friday that there will be no increase of university fees next year failed to quell unrest as fresh skirmishes broke out between students and police at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
Police fired rubber bullets at students and journalists outside the Union Buildings just after the president’s brief address, injuring several, including an ANA reporter.
Thousands of students, who had maintained a restive presence outside the seat of government as Zuma met with their leaders, Cabinet ministers and vice-chancellors, scurried for cover as members of the public order policing unit tried to disperse them.
A police helicopter was hovering overhead, with police Nyalas being deployed to move the students back from the Union Buildings.
A reporter for a student newspaper took to Twitter to accuse police of deliberately targetting her and others who were cowering behind a car, saying they moved closer to “get a better shot”.
Traffic chaos ensued as students spread from the United Buildings to block streets in Pretoria.
In Cape Town, University of the Western Cape students were reportedly heading to Cape Town International Airport after protesting on campus during the day.
Authorities at the university, with its legacy of liberation struggle activism, turned the police away from campus, saying their students had the right to peaceful protest.
Zuma’s announcement of a moratorium on fee hikes had been widely expected. The South African Communist Party earlier on Friday issued a statement urging him to take this route.
“On the matter at hand, we agreed that there will be a zero increase of university fees in 2016. Discussions will continue looking at broader issues than the fees,” said Zuma
Characteristically, the president called for a wider inquiry into all aspects of the situation in the medium term.
“I’ve received a briefing from student leaders on matters of concern to them, which include fees and other challenges including transformation issues as well as living condition of students,” he said in his first formal pronoucement on the student revolt that began ten days ago at Wits after it decided to hike fees 10.5 percent next year.
“I’ve also listened to the views of vice-chancellors and chairpersons of university councils. The meeting agreed that government needs to lead a process that goes wider than fees — looking at the higher education sector.”
Both the ruling African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance welcomed the announcement on fees but warned that it was not the full answer to the student revolt shaking the country.
Earlier, students had hurled projectiles at State Security Minister David Mhlobo after he briefly emerged from the meeting.
A small group of students burnt about 10 portable toilets and threw bottles and stones at the police officers.
A group of students were marching on the lawns in front of the Union Building shouting “No violence”, but were soon met and silenced by a group who overturned a portable toilet while chanting: “Sosha, Sosha, Sosha”.
The group are believed to be students from Soshanguve who were upset that none of their leaders had been invited to the meeting with the president.
A section of the building’s security fence was vandalised as impatient protesters demanded that Zuma address them on the south lawn where thousands of students had gathered by midday.
From behind the fence, protesters hurled bottles, stones and other objects at riot police and reporters. Students set alight objects on the lawn, sending black smoke into the air around the government headquarters.
News outlets quickly moved their mobile broadcast vans out of the area.
In Durban, some 6 000 students marched through the city to the African National Congress’s regional offices and handed over a memorandum to party officials.
They stopped at the city hall, brandishing placards that read: “The power of the people is stronger than the people in power!”, “The revolution is on!”, “Fees must fall, Blade must fall”, and “Our parents were sold a dream in 1994; We’re here for a refund”.
ANA
* E-mail your opinion to [email protected] and we will consider it for publication or use our Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.