Student protests are set to intensify, potentially disrupting the academic year and closing down universities in a repeat of scenes in the latter stages of the Jacob Zuma administration during which the government capitulated and promised fee-free tuition.
Academic activity, which was already under threat due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, faces further disruption after the government initially rejected demands to scrap about R10bn owed to 26 institutions.
The protests come less than a month after finance minister Tito Mboweni announced below-inflation increases for student financial support in his budget.
The government has faced criticism for its priorities, including bankrolling failing state-owned enterprises such as national airline SAA — which in its latest bailout got a similar amount to what the students are demanding — while contending at the same time that there is no money for key services.
The protests come as the government has committed to consolidating its debt to prevent the country from falling into a debt spiral. Apart from its dispute with public sector unions over plans to cut its wage bill, it has come under fire for cuts in social grants.
The SA Students Congress (Sasco) said after a meeting at the weekend that it would shut down all of SA’s 26 public universities in a bid to get the historical debt of all students cleared, and to allow them to register for the 2021 academic year.
Higher education & training minister Blade Nzimande made it clear there is no money to meet the demand to extinguish the historical debt of all students, but the department did give in to some demands last week, agreeing to reprioritise its budget to find additional money for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Students started demonstrating last week after those who were in arrears with their fees or had no proof of funding were prevented from registering. During one of the protests at Wits University in Johannesburg last week, bystander Mthokozisi Ntumba was shot and killed, allegedly by police, leading to a national outcry.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate arrested four police officers in connection with his death on Monday.
With class activities migrating online in 2020 due to the pandemic, it is unlikely that the student protests will have the same effect as those that erupted about six years ago, when classes were disrupted by protesters and violence broke out at campuses.
But they have the potential to be politically toxic for President Cyril Ramaphosa, after some of his opponents in the ANC, including secretary-general Ace Magashule, had marched with student leaders to the Constitutional Court last week.
The #FeesMustFall movement took the country by storm in 2015, starting at Wits University, and continued into 2016 and 2017, resulting in Zuma announcing a promise of unfunded free education for poorer students on the eve of the ANC’s national conference in December 2017.
Despite Zuma’s belated intervention, Ramaphosa narrowly won the party’s presidency, before replacing Zuma as leader of the country the next February. The latest protests also started at Wits, where students also demanded that fees are not increased in 2021.
Nzimande said in a letter dated March 14 that was sent to student leaders and made public on Monday that given the difficult fiscal situation, all government departments including his own, that of higher education, have been subject to budget reductions in 2020 and 2021.
"I am aware that many institutions are doing what they can to assist students in need, and to allow them to make payment arrangements to be able to register, where this is possible.
"However, institutions also have to remain financially sustainable in order to continue to operate effectively, and financial decisions are made at the level of university councils," Nzimande wrote.
The minister said the historic debt of NSFAS-qualifying students is being dealt with through a process between the funding agency and institutions. NSFAS-qualifying students with historic debt are able to register when they sign an acknowledgement of debt form.
In the medium-term expenditure framework released with the budget in February, spending in the higher education sector will increase from about R120bn in 2021 to R124bn in 2023/2024. Allocations to NSFAS will increase from about R37bn in 2021 to R38.6bn in the medium term, or at an average of 1.7% over the period, which is well below the inflation rate of about 3.3%.
The latest protests have seen students, especially from Wits in Johannesburg, calling on the tertiary education institution to allow students to register and graduate regardless of debt owed. Wits students have also demanded that there be no fee increases in 2021.
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