SA police fire stun grenades at students protesting against fee increases

Police on Tuesday fired stun grenades at students protesting against fee increases at the Wits University in Johannesburg.

The protests intensified one day after Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande allowed universities to increase fees for 2017, provided the increase does not exceed eight percent.

Universities insist on an eight-percent fee rise and students demand for zero-percent increase.

Following Nzimande's announcement, protests erupted at several universities across the country.

On Tuesday morning, academic activities at the Wits University almost came to a standstill as students blocked cars from entering the institution and barred students from attending classes.

Police fired stun grenades at the students who responded by pelting the police with stones.

Security personnel at the University prevented the students from marching to the administration offices to force Vice Chancellor Adam Habib to address them.

Students threw stones at the security personnel and the offices, breaking some windows.

Meanwhile, protests also took place at universities in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Free State provinces. The University of Cape Town had to suspend clases because of the protest. Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria was also shut down.

Gauteng Provincial Deputy Commissioner Eric Nkuna said the police are constantly disrupted from their core business of fighting crime by the "Fees Must Fall" protests.

He urged all stakeholders work together to resolve the issue so that the police should dedicate their energy and resources to fighting crime.

While making the announcement earlier, Nzimande said he had consulted with various stakeholders to find the best way to handle the situation.

"We understand the legitimate student concerns about the affordability of university education. At the same time, we need to ensure that those who can afford to pay must pay," Nzimande said.

To ensure that such inflation-linked fee adjustments of the 2015 fee baseline were affordable to financially-needy students, the government was committed to finding the resources to support all students, the minister said.

He said the government would assist households with an income of less than R600,000 (about 42,000 U.S. dollars) per annum, with subsidy funding to cover the gap between the 2015 fee and adjusted 2017 fee at the relevant institutions.

Universities South Africa, a body representing the country's 26 universities, welcomed Nzimande's announcement.

South African universities were hit by widespread protests over fee increases last year. According to official figures, the unrest cost more than 145 million rand (about 10.8 million US dollars) in damage.

The government then suspended fee increases for 2016 and provided universities with billions of rand for the shortfall. Endit