Thousands of students rallied at top South African universities on Monday in protest at plans to hike tuition fees, extending a spate of campus unrest that has included demonstrations against colonial-era statues and the language of instruction. South Africa's student body is mostly black, but is hampered by tight funding and the lingering effects of discrimination dating from the era of white-minority rule, with the proportion of blacks in higher education still relatively low.
The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where the protest wave began last week, this weekend suspended its fee hike plan pending a final decision at a later date, while Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town (UCT) suspended classes in response to student demonstrations. Protesting students, some of whom are white, are demanding that the fee rises due to take effect next year - reported to be up to 11.5 percent depending on the university - be scrapped.
"In our fight for free education we need to ensure that all students can have access to these institutions and not only a certain class of students can have access," said Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, student council president-elect at Wits. Higher education minister Blade Nzimande said each university catered for its own finances, and the government could not afford to provide free education for poor students. The government allocates about 30 billion rand ($2 billion) for the financial year 2015/2016, with 21 billion rand injected as subsidies to the various universities. The rest is shared between a national bursary for needy students and other grants.