Pretoria - Universities must take stern action against students who embark on violence and destruction of property at South African campuses, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.
Addressing reporters at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, after a meeting that lasted several hours with the Vice-Chancellors of South African universities, Zuma said the law must take its course when students engaged in violent protests.
“I wish to reiterate that any shortfalls in financial aid should not be used as a justification for hooliganism and vandalism of state property. Equally, students protesting for the transformation of institutions must focus on dialogue and legitimate means of negotiation and protest to bring about change,” said Zuma.
“Where such unacceptable violent behaviour occurs, institutional management must take firm action in line with the law and their respective policies and rules.”
The meeting was requested by the University Council Chairpersons Forum-South Africa, led by Mbulelo Bikwani, and Universities South Africa led by Professor Adam Habib.
Zuma said while government supported students’ right to protest, the same right should be exercised with utmost responsibility.
“We therefore strongly condemn the violence and destruction of property that have taken place at some of our universities in the name of student protests over the past year or so, and most recently at the University of KwaZulu-Natal,” said Zuma.
“The meeting agreed that all forms of dispute must be resolved through negotiation and that where wanton acts of criminality take place, the law must take its course.”
The shortage of government’s National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), aimed at helping poor students, also took the spotlight at the meeting. Zuma said even though the purse had increased from R441 million in 1997 to over R9.5 billion in 2015, there was still a major shortfall.
“While funding has increased considerably, it is clearly still insufficient to support all poor and academically deserving students. Processes for improving the disbursement of funds, and concerted efforts to root out fraud, as well as sourcing additional funding to support students are currently being implemented,” he said.
“We agreed to establish a Task Team made up of officials from the Department of Higher Education and Training, The Presidency, NSFAS, two Vice-Chancellors representing the leadership of universities, two student representatives as well as other higher education stakeholders, to explore solutions to short-term student funding challenges.”
The task team is expected to make recommendations by the end of November.
Zuma said while the task team was conducting its processes, students should not engage in violence over the funds.
“At the same time, while violent student responses have been condemned, the management of universities must open up legitimate channels for discussion and dialogue over matters concerning students, with a view to resolving whatever issues they raise,” he said.
“We believe that university management must be more proactive and not allow matters to deteriorate to such an extent that students go on a rampage, often due to lack of understanding and knowledge of the situation and spurred by poor communication.”
ANA