University students protested in South Africa for at least a second day this week over plans to increase fees at the country’s colleges in 2017. The protests, which erupted in September, have turned violent as students have clashed with the police.
On Wednesday, at least two students were injured after the police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to break up protests at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, university and student representatives said.
How did the protests flare up?
On Sept. 19, the minister of higher education, Blade Nzimande, announcedthat the country’s universities were facing serious funding challenges at the same time that South Africans were having trouble affording tuition. So the minister proposed that universities set their own fee increases for 2017.
But he recommended that the increases be no more than 8 percent. For some categories of needy students, there will be no increase, he added.
The next day, student protests erupted at the University of the Witwatersrand. Demonstrations also began at the University of Cape Town, which suspended classes, and hundreds of students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal marched in Pietermaritzburg city, The Associated Press reported.
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