Police brutality won’t stop us, say students protesting over fees

Universities SA CEO Prof Ahmed Bawa on Wednesday urged the government to find a way to deal with the needs of financially-stricken students, as #asinmali (“we don’t have money”) protests escalated, with a bystander shot dead and several injured in the streets around Wits University in Johannesburg.

“The NSFAS [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] shortfall this year is R5.6bn. There is no possibility of any university finding that kind of money. I think we have to turn to the cabinet. We are desperate to hear what they have decided. We were hoping that there was a way cabinet was able to find that money to ensure the NSFAS programmes are not undermined, because if that happens we face serious challenges,” he said.

“Universities are meant to serve the entire population. There are billions of households that cannot afford to send their children to universities and that is contradictory to the role of universities.

“We call on the government to find a way of dealing with the needs of those students who fall out of the NSFAS category, and to find a way of ensuring that if they are successful in their studies, that their progress through university study is not jeopardised,” he said.

Higher education minister Blade Nzimande on Wednesday blamed former president Jacob Zuma for the fallout, saying his free education promise in 2017 was impossible to achieve. Nzimande on Monday confirmed the budget shortfall, and said there was no clarity yet on how new students who need financial assistance will be funded.

On Wednesday evening, Nzimande told parliament that cabinet had taken a decision with regards to the funding of first-year students, but was not at liberty to communicate cabinet decisions. Cabinet will communicate on this on Thursday, he said.

Students took to the streets under the banner #asinamali in Johannesburg on Wednesday, protesting the financial exclusion of those with historical debt, and fighting for first-years who do not know how their tuition will be financed.

Police fired rubber bullets at protesters, hitting a man apparently on his way to or from a nearby clinic. The yet to be identified man could be seen in video footage gasping for air on the sidewalk, with blood stains on his blue shirt and blood on his face. A person attending to him was seen checking his pulse and shaking him as his black mask lay forgotten on the side of the road. Paramedics arrived but he was declared dead on the scene, a foil blanket thrown over his body.

Two Wits journalism students were also shot and injured. The SA National Editors Forum condemned the action.

“Sanef has learnt with sadness barely two days after the world commemorated International Women’s Day, Ms Nondumiso Lehutso and Ms Aphelele Buqwana were ordered by the police to run and leave the scene, only to be shot and injured by the same police officer. The students were reporting for VowFM and Wits Vuvuzela,” it said in a statement.

SRC deputy-president Sthembiso Dabula said this would not deter protesters and vowed to “fight with our bodies”.

“We are not going to be deterred, if they have to kill all of us, then they should kill all of us. We are going to fight with our bodies because we don’t have weapons, and they are fighting us while we are fighting for free education,” she said.

Dabula said students’ situations had regressed to before the fees must fall movement.

“There was never a step to free education, there was never a step towards the realisation of free education, so basically we are back to where we were.

“We never acquired free education, we never achieved free education. The government’s response to free education was converting NSFAS from being a loan to a bursary, and it still means that a student needs to qualify for that, meaning others won’t be funded. With them not being able to fund first-year students, it makes us wonder if it was a step towards the realisation of free education,” she said.

Dabula said they were shocked by police brutality towards unarmed students.

“The police were brutal towards students when they started shooting. We were peaceful. You could see that they were instructed to shoot.

“At this point, we don’t know what their agenda is or the agenda they are trying to push, because it’s not like we are fighting for ourselves, we are also fighting for their children. We can never understand police brutality against students who are not armed,” she said.

Nomzamo Zondo, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA (SERI) executive director, said they were deeply saddened by reports of the police responding violently to peaceful student protests.

Zondo said police had a duty to facilitate the right to peaceful assembly.

“The students have a right to assemble peacefully, they were assembling peacefully. The police came and instead of facilitating the peaceful protest, they shot at students. The police didn’t understand and could not understand that students were protesting about issues that affect them. It’s a challenge because what the police should have done was negotiate with students or redirected the traffic,” she said.

SA Union of Students secretary-general Lwandile Mtsolo said other universities were also on the edge of protesting because there was no clarity on the funding.

“The fees must fall movement was worth it. We now have people implementing the policies, a lot of the decisions were taken after the fees must fall movement and they were assisting students. But the current administrations are now setting the students back,” he said.

Bawa said there was a need for a national solution, as the problem had been ongoing for 20-years.

“The status that universities face is that levels of debts are high. I am aware that the debt of Wits is sitting at R50bn, so the likelihood the university will simply write of their debts is not going to happen.

“If the students are asking to be registered, that removes the only kind of ability the university has to collect that kind of money. Unless there is a national approach to dealing with that debt, I can’t simply see the university writing it off,” he said.