UNIVERSITY FEES
CAROL PATON: Why Zuma wants free higher education amid lack of protest
His announcement has nothing to do with students. It is unbridled populism
Where have all the students gone? Into libraries and residences studying for exams. Speaking as a parent, exactly where they should be. Student protest on university campuses has all but fizzled out. They managed a fleeting shutdown at the University of Cape Town two weeks ago that garnered the support of about 100 students. At Wits, where they were given the opportunity by the new EFF-dominated Student Representative Council, students voted not to shut down the university but to rather write exams. It is only at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the University of the Free State (UFS) that any significant mobilisation has been mounted. CPUT is now surrounded by a ring of razor wire and armed security personnel. It is quiet. At the UFS, students have been arrested and student activists say there is still some tension. The hordes of students who stormed Parliament in 2015 and who swarmed on to the lawns of the Union Buildings have gone quiet. On that day, Presiden...
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