By: Neo Makwiting
The South African Union of Students could start protesting against possible fee increases at universities as soon as Monday.
Union spokesperson Sthembiso Ndlovu claims class boycotts will force government to take calls for free education seriously.
The Council for Higher Education has proposed a 6% hike for next year and the Treasury has warned that another fee freeze will put enormous pressure on state resources.
The call for protests comes as the end-of-year exams are approaching.
Ndlovu says the protests will be peaceful. “We believe that we cannot burn our property because we will need this property once we have attain our free education. We will need the same lecture hall, we will need the same building.”
“All institutions are ready to shut down and some are already on shut down. We have already started. We have closed the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg campus. We have closed Mangosuthu University of Technology. We are going to be closing NMU (Nelson Mandela University) and we are going to close University of Cape Town.”
“Tomorrow (Monday) at 8 o'clock I will be addressing a mass meeting at the University of Pretoria, to speak with our students because the time is now and we are not prepared to sell out this cause.”