Cosatu backs call for no fee hikes at universities
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) fully endorses a call by students for a zero-percent fee increase in the 2017 academic year‚ until the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into Higher Education tables its final report. President Jacob Zuma established the commission earlier this year to explore the viability of free tertiary education.In the absence of a feedback from the commission‚ which will complete its work in mid-2017‚ Cosatu said it believes there should be “no discussions about any fee increments” by universities.The federation said in a statement‚ issued after its central committee executive meeting this week‚ that it supported “the student's argument that this country has enough resources hidden in the pockets of white monopoly capital that can be harnessed and utilised to provide free education for the vulnerable students”.“Attempts to reform an education system that was never meant to accommodate poor students is a futile endeavour‚ so we are calling on government to take a lead in overhauling the funding model of our education system and stop vacillation and indecisiveness‚” it added.Student protests against fee hikes have flared on campuses around the country‚ including at the University of KwaZulu-Natal‚ Walter Sisulu University and Nelson Mandela Bay University in the Eastern Cape.– TMG Digital..
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