PHOTOS: Tuks students vow to shutdown university

“They must not increase fees, regardless of that six percent which Blade (Higher Education Minister Nzimande) gave yesterday. We don’t want a fee increase because our fees are already too exorbitant for poor students,” said Karabo Sekhukhuni, spokesperson for the #UPrising students movement.

“We have the poorest of the poor students at this university. The students who sleep in the library daily, all they had was the registration fee and nothing else. Students are very hostile to that six percent. We don’t understand how Blade is advocating for that fee increase,” Sekhukhuni said.

She said the campus would be continually shut down, until.the students’ demands are met.

“We are here until our management agrees to our terms. Today the campus is shut down, but on UP terms. It will stay shut down on our terms, until they agree to our terms,” Sekhukhuni said.

Asked if the students were not concerned about failing their examinations due to lost academic time, Sekhukhuni said the exams schedules may have to be shifted.

“We are giving the management until Friday to come back to us. Part of our memorandum says if this protest takes longer than it should, then they must move all academic programming to a time when we can do it,” said the defiant student leader.

Some students who were seen wearing different political parties regalia were united in protest.

The University of Pretoria and that of the Free State on Wednesday suspended lectures and examinations as students at the institution joined other campuses to protest against the fee increases.

The University of Pretoria said lectures would be suspended to allow “peaceful engagement on key issues affecting the institution”.

“Tests and examinations for the said date [21 October] have been rescheduled. No student will be compromised by these adjustments to the academic programme,” the university said in a statement.

“Consequently, staff are not required to be present on campus. Only essential support service staff will be required for duty,” stated the university.

The institution’s students took to social media this week under #UPrising to mobilise for the protest. They held a night vigil at the main campus in Hatfield on Tuesday.

Protests against proposed fee increases started at Witwatersrand University last Wednesday and spread to other universities.

Wits students are also demanding that the university stop outsourcing of services and called for better pay for workers at the institution. Some academic staff have joined the student protests.

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s announcement on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached to cap fee increases at six percent was met with anger from protesters.

The students rejected Nzimande’s announcement and vowed to continue protesting for a no fee increase.

Eastern Cape’s Fort Hare University students embarked on a protest on Tuesday.

The institution reportedly withdrew an ultimatum to bar students from writing final exams unless they had paid up to 60 percent of their tuition fees.

Meanwhile, the SA Student Congress (SASCO) has planned a national shutdown of all higher institutions of learning by midday on Wednesday to further intensify the no fee increase campaign.

The organisation has urged students to protest peacefully across the country. - ANA