The leaderlessness of South Africa’s #FeesMustFall student movement has ultimately fed into divisions within the grouping.
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Articles on #feesmustfall
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South Africa must address the root factors contributing to nationwide protests in the higher education sector or face dire consequences
Social justice is not just a phrase for protesting students. Instead it is something that defines them.
Some students argue wrongly that the ANC has betrayed the promise of free higher education made in the Freedom Charter. The governing party’s populism is also to blame for the confusion.
Demands being made by protesting students in South Africa purport to support the poor. But the most marginalised young people in the country will not benefit from free higher education.
South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, had to battle poor growth and falling revenue in preparing the 2016 medium term budget. How did he do?
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan announced that government expenditure on higher education and specifically universities will be the fastest growing expenditure items on the budget.
South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget speech was a lot about balancing the politics of a divided ruling ANC.
South Africa’s 2016 medium term budget was awaited with bated breath amid rising political tensions, increasingly violent student protests and the threat of a credit downgrade.
There has been a great deal of research, planning and talking to come up with solutions to South Africa’s higher education funding crisis. Some of these plans must now be put into action.
University authorities in South Africa have agreed to most fees protesters’ demands. Yet, the protesters keep moving the goalposts. Do they want more than fees to fall?
Student protesters have demonstrated good leadership in some spheres but come up short in other areas. This suggests that universities ought to focus more on how they teach leadership.
Peacekeeping is not easy. But for South Africa’s universities to begin working towards solutions, it is crucial that their communities give peace a chance.
Many young academics and those who might be considering an academic career will be horrified by what’s unfolding at South Africa’s institution. Will bright minds be lost?
When students are genuinely listened to and understood, and their proposed solutions to problems are taken seriously, real change can happen in university faculties.
When several South African universities merged, it was hoped this would improve access and equality. It had the opposite effect.
There are several different ways to approach democracy. Polls, elections and referenda all feature, but they’re not the only way to deepen democracy.
Economic models suggest that South Africa’s GDP would fall, inequality would deepen and unemployment would rise if university graduates don’t enter the labour market in 2017.
Clashes between student protesters and armed security (whether public or private) compel South Africans to consider the role of use of force in the context of protests.
The foundation founded by Nelson Mandela in 1999 has done a major revision - it has written off most of his reign as comprising “grand symbolic gestures”.
Top contributors
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Professor, University of Cape Town
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Researcher, Social Sciences, University of Fort Hare
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Director of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation and Associate Professor of Education, University of Johannesburg
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Senior Researcher in Labour Studies and Education, University of Johannesburg
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Senior Research Fellow, Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg
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Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Digital Society, University of Glasgow
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PhD Scholar, Wits School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela University
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Chief Director: Tshwane University of Technology – Institute for Economic Research on Innovation; Node Head: DST/NRF SciSTIP CoE; and Professor Extraordinary: Stellenbosch University – Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology., Tshwane University of Technology
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Distinguished Reserach Professor, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of International Affairs and the Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), Carleton University
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Professor of Urban Governance, University of the Witwatersrand
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Ruth First Fellow, Journalism, University of the Witwatersrand
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Academic Staff Development Lecturer, Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town
