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News > World

South Africa Forms Response Team as Student Protests Continue

  • Students demanding free education react as they are fired at by riot police officers during a protest outside the University of the Witwatersrand at Braamfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 10, 2016.

    Students demanding free education react as they are fired at by riot police officers during a protest outside the University of the Witwatersrand at Braamfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 10, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 11 October 2016
Opinion

"At the heart of the crisis is the chronic underfunding of higher education over the last decade," said the main opposition Democratic Alliance party.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has formed a ministerial team to help bring an end to weeks of clashes at university campuses between police and students demanding free education, the presidency said on Tuesday.

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The government, grappling with a budget deficit equal to nearly 4 percent of annual economic output, says education subsidies should not be paid for while public spending on other vital sectors, such as health and housing, languishes.

Zuma has also said 2017 university fees may rise by up to 8 percent.

Police clashed sporadically with student protesters on Tuesday at the University of the Witwatersand, or Wits, which was hit by violence on Monday after reopening. Administrators had closed the school for a week following violent clashes late last month.

The team set up by Zuma consists of eight ministers, including Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, and is tasked with resolving the crisis.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance party criticized Zuma, however, for excluding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

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"At the heart of the crisis is the chronic underfunding of higher education over the last decade," it said in a statement.

Zuma's government has said it will continue subsidizing university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all.

"We are not saying ... everybody must receive free education, even if the parents can afford it, because we have got to balance the resources," Zuma told a news conference in Nairobi on Tuesday during a state visit to Kenya.

The Wits Student Representative Council said in a statement that they would be continuing the struggle for free education.

Some students are demanding all universities be shut down until the government provides free education.

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