Education
SA's students are pawns in a bigger game
As soon as students began demanding free education in 2015, their movement became an important tool that has been exploited by political parties
In 2015 a tsunami of protests was set in motion after a group of students from the University of the Witwatersrand protested against university fee increases. The protests escalated, as did the demands, with thousands of students demanding free higher education from government. They protested on university campuses across SA, at the gates of parliament, in front of Luthuli House and on the vast lawns of the Union Buildings. Round two of the protests took place in 2016, but last year the movement fizzled into a mere glimmer of the united student front seen in 2015.However, last month President Jacob Zuma unexpectedly announced that government would make free higher education a reality for students from low-income families from 2018. Zuma’s statement — on the morning that the ANC’s national conference began, and with no consultation with other parts of government — contradicted the report of the Heher Commission which said free higher education was not feasible for all students. Almo...
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