VIDEO: #FeesMustFall: SASCO's national shutdown

According to a statement the national day of mass action will start on Wednesday 21 October 2015 and is expected to continue until all of the "matters" are resolved.

"We believe that this call should be correctly linked with the call for Free Quality Education in our country. We encourage those institutions which are already on strike such as the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Fort Hare, Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town to continue their actions and further accelerate these strikes so that they are felt by the echelons of power in our institutions and in the Department of Higher Education," the statement read.

This comes after protest action was intensified at the Universities of Witwatersrand, UCT, Rhodes as well as the UFS.

"We appeal for our comrades to be vigilant and not be fooled by institutional managers who are plotting to delay the fee increases up until the summer holidays. Even if they do this, we must promise them that institutions will not be re-opened up until there is 0 percent fee increment," SASCO said in a statement.

The organisation said it wanted a "moratorium on fee increment across all universities" and for higher education minister Blade Nzimande "to speedily introduce free education".

Nzimande was expected meet university Vice Chancellors on Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis.

"We call for the bailout of the higher education system by the government and the declaration of state of emergency on education in the land. We call for the end of austerity in relation to education spending by the ANC led government," SASCO said.

Protest action persisted overnight on various campuses around the country with more universities expecting to join in the mass action.

This video was taken at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in the Eastern Cape. 

WARNING: Contains strong language.