Students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) staged a protest on Thursday night in response to the institution’s decision not to remove the block of fees for students with debt.
The Student Representative Council (SRC) said on its Twitter page: “Police have used stun grenades, pressure and have arrested in the central campus.”
Fee blocking is a mechanism whereby students in arrears are blocked from accessing their exam results from the previous year and from re-registering in the new year.
The Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC) has condemned the university’s decision to call the police to campus. He said four students have been arrested.
“This is after the students continued to protest peacefully after the university council rejected the proposal to lift the fee block and then helped financially remove 7 535 academically eligible students,” he said in a statement.
The university described the protest as “illegal”, due to an interim injunction, which was granted by the Western Cape High Court on 17 February.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola reiterated the university’s stance on upholding the right to legitimate protest, but said it would take action against illegal activity.
The SRC had proposed that the fee block be lifted as a public concession but, at a council meeting on Monday, UCT decided not to remove the block.
According to the university, student fee debt has risen to more than R385 million, and some students have not yet paid. More than 50% of this amount is for the fees to be paid for the academic year 2022.
“The UCT executive has worked hard to expand the right to enroll academically eligible students. Since December 2022, UCT has implemented a number of measures that will allow about 4 000 additional students starting with block fees to register for the 2023 academic year,” Moholola said.
Moholola added that tuition fees are the biggest source of income for UCT, followed by government subsidies, which have been declining over time. If the debt isn’t converted to cash, he said, the university’s financial sustainability will be affected.
This comes after the University of the Witwatersrand SRC said on Wednesday it was willing to suspend protests over fees and accommodation, on the condition that the institution remove private security guards and police officers from campus and lift the suspension of six students, including the president. .
With SRC president Aphiwe Mnyamana suspended, his deputy Kamogelo Mabe told reporters that the council would only meet the university management for negotiations when their demands were met.
This is after the authorities at the university demanded that the students end their protest to pave the way for a meeting with the vice-chancellor.
Mnyamana was suspended on allegations of serious misconduct and did not appear at the suspension hearing.
Students at Wits are protesting because they can’t register for the new academic year because they have university debt or because they can’t secure accommodation at home because they can’t pay the deposit.