UKZN students join fee hike protest
Several hundred students protested at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to demand an end to university fee hikes.
|||Durban – Several hundred students protested at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) on Wednesday to demand an end to university fee hikes.
Initially a small group of about 100 converged on the university’s Westville campus before marching through the campus and entering lecture halls to urge students to join them in their protest.
Gradually as the protesting students made their way through the campus the crowd of marchers grew to about 800.
As UKZN students joined the protests against fee hikes at universities across the country, they danced and sung, closely watched by the university security.,
The protests against fees hikes began last Wednesday at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
At the UKZN there were a few police officers to be seen, but their presence at the campus was very low key.
A member of the student representative council, Bozise Mchunu, told the protesters only once students from the universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand decided to protest did the government take heed of the grievances.
He said this was because those universities were “predominantly white” and that the government had not reacted to the protests that started at UKZN because it was a “predominantly black” university.
Mchunu said students would continue to protest until the university’s vice chancellor Dr Albert van Jaarsveld met with students.
“He is not taking us seriously because we are black,” said Mchunu.
A member of the South African Students Congress urged white and Indian students to join in the protest, because they too were affected by increasing fees.
The protest was largely peaceful and there were no immediate reports of any incidents of damage to property or violence.
Numerous protesters carried placards, some of which read “What is this freedom you speak about?” and “We want free education now!”
UKZN spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said that the university had no problem with peaceful protests. However, he said Wednesday’s protests was technically illegal as the university had obtained an interdict against protests.
The Durban High Court interdict was obtained last month in the wake of student protests that saw students torch two buildings on campus.
“In a sense that gathering is illegal. People can protest aaas long as they don’t damage buildings,” he said.
Asked about the six percent cap on fee increases agreed on Monday in Cape Town, Seshoka said he could comment as here was no fee increase proposal at the university.
He said UKZN’s council was only due to meet in early November to deliberate on fees.
There are about 44 000 students studying at the university’s five campuses.
There were also protests reported to be taking place at the Howard College campus on Wednesday.
African News Agency
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