EFF CONGRATULATES STUDENTS ON THEIR VICTORY ON ZERO PERCENT FEE INCREMENT
23 October 2015
The EFF congratulates students for their decisive victory over fee increment for 2016. The announcement by President Zuma that there will be 0% fee increment is demonstration that the people standing together in protest can indeed triumph over a government. The students literally brought the government and university management kicking and screaming to a concession on fee increment through the power of their united and decisive protest voice.
The EFF condemns President Zuma for making this announcement through the media when thousands of students had been waiting on his door step to hear from him. Zuma should have made the announcement to the students as opposed to speaking to them through the media. We also condemn Blade Nzimande’s attitude that #StudentsMustFall if they do not accept the government offer. It demonstrates arrogance and disregard of the collective emotion it took students to arrive at this point of their struggle.
The university management and Minister of Higher Education can now also appreciate that students are a power and societal force that cannot be simply pushed over. The final and lasting solution however remains the provision of free quality education for all academically deserving students. Government must therefore fast track the process towards the realisation of free quality education in order to provide a lasting solution to the problem of fees.
We hope that this concession is not about postponing the real problem to 2017, where there will be a fee increment. The demand of students was very clear that there should be no fees in their historic phrase that #FEESMUSTFALL. This is the only sustainable solution which can and must be achieved. The EFF calls on government to conclude the process urgently and provide free quality education in 2017. It is not about no fee increment, it is about fees falling - in other words, free quality education.
Moreover, all students who owe fees must be relieved from debt so that they can get their academic records and look for jobs.
In addition, students were very clear that fees must fall without a single university worker being outsourced or losing their job. The neoliberal tendency of shifting cost burden on workers, in particular cleaners, plumbers and gardeners must be completely rejected. A truly democratic and transformed university must not have outsourced workers, all must belong fully to the university community.
The zero fee increment is a victory of students; their unity and strength of protest. EFF further condemns the police brutality that has occurred throughout the country in our universities. We call on government to release all students arrested due to the #FeeMustFall protests and compensate all the injuries caused by police brutality.
Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, 23 October 2015
