Violent Protests in South Africa Universities Continue

Pretoria, Sep 26 (Prensa Latina) Violent student protests in South African universities continue today, amid calls to restore order and end the destruction of facilities.

On Monday morning a residence on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) was burnt by groups of students, according to a report of the ANN7 channel.

At the Witwatersrand University (Wits) in Johannesburg, which has been the focus of demonstrations, classes remain suspended until further notice.

The same in the Metropolitan Nelson Mandela in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape province, where their spokesperson Zandile Mbabela said that they are not sure when normal academic activities would be resumed.

The demonstrations, which revived the campaign #FeesMustFall, erupted after the Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande,announcement on 2017 university fees.

Students showed their dissatisfaction with the government's decision to increase university tuition fees to the maximum of 8.0 percent for the coming year, although young people from poor families will remain exempt.

The main demand of the students is free and quality education for all.

During an interview with the SABC channel Monday, the rector of the Wits, Professor Adam Habib stated that free education is not a matter that is in the hands of the institution.

Habib said that the government is the one that can take that kind of decision, but it is a process that does not happen overnight.

This year, besides the occurrences at universities, about 30 schools in Vuwani were burnt, in Limpopo province, in the north of the country.