S. Africa's Zuma scraps university fee hikes in face of protests

PRETORIA — South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday abandoned proposed hikes to university fees after days of protests culminating in police firing stun grenades at students outside government headquarters. Some demonstrators tried to force their way towards the Union Buildings in the capital Pretoria, tearing down a security fence, setting fire to portable toilets and hurling bricks at police lines in chaotic scenes. Zuma had been due to address the crowd after meeting with student leaders and university officials inside the buildings, but instead he read a short statement at a televised press briefing. "We agreed that there will be a zero increase of university fees in 2016," he said. "In the long term, there is a package of issues that was raised at the meeting that needs to be followed up — these include free education, institutional autonomy (and) racism." Universities around the country have been closed over the last week as students protested against the proposed fee rises, which they say would mean poorer black youths are unable to study for degrees. The issue of education fees has ignited widespread frustration over a lack of opportunities for young people since the end of apartheid, worsened by a weakening economy and high unemployment. Earlier, South African riot police fired stun grenades Friday at students protesting against fee hikes as some demonstrators tried to force their way towards government headquarters in Pretoria. Thousands of students gathered near the Union Buildings, where President Jacob Zuma had been due to address the crowds after he met student leaders and university officials following several days of growing protests. Protesters tore down sections of a security fence, set fire to portable toilets and hurled bricks at police lines in chaotic scenes. The Union Buildings are the official seat of the South African government and where Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president when white-minority apartheid rule fell in 1994. "The government thinks we are playing, they think it's because we want to run away from school," Kgotsi Genge, a 22-year-old student at the University of Pretoria, told AFP at the protest in the capital. "But we will keep fighting. South Africa needs to invest more in education. This movement is because we are being oppressed." Universities around the country have been closed over the last week as students have protested against the proposed fee rises, which they say will mean poorer black youths are unable to attend university. The issue of education fees has ignited widespread frustration over a lack of opportunities for young people since the end of apartheid, worsened by a weakening economy and high unemployment. "This was supposed to be peaceful," Jessica Littlewood, a 20-year-old criminology student at the University of Pretoria, told AFP.  "I hope that this violent protest ends and that Zuma addresses us with a solution. This movement is by the students, for the students." Earlier this week, hundreds of students stormed through the gates outside parliament in Cape Town as police struggled to protect the national assembly. Protests have also erupted daily in Cape Town, Johannesburg, University of Fort Hare in Eastern Cape province and several other provincial cities. Fees were set to rise up to 10 percent next year, with a general Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) currently costing 46,000 rand ($3,400). "A proposed increase in university fees has angered students, given the financial difficulties faced by students from poor households," Zuma's office said in a statement earlier. "The president will use the meeting to gain a first-hand account from students." It said that universities set their fees independently, in an apparent attempt to steer criticism away from the African National Congress (ANC) government that has ruled since 1994. University activism has been increasing this year as students — many of them so-called "born frees" who did not experience the struggle against apartheid — vent their anger over continuing racial inequality in South Africa. Protests over education have a strong resonance in the country, where the Soweto uprisings in 1976 against Afrikaans-language lessons were brutally suppressed by police. Earlier this year, students at UCT led a high-profile and successful campaign for the removal of a statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes from the campus. — AFP