South Africa: Students Protest High Tuition Fee

South Africa witnessed a wave of student protests throughout the country for weeks, demanding lower education prices.

At Witwatersrand University, the epicenter of the protests, police and students clashed on 10th October, as the authorities attempted to reopen the institution.

Thato Mokoena, one of the student leaders, called on the university management to stop "militarisation" of the campus.

"The university needs to start realising that every day we have security and police, every day we have violence. Every other day when they are not here, everything is OK. So I think there should be a de-militarisation of our campuses," he said.

Unrest was also reported in University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban and University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.

The police have arrested Mcebo Dlamini, a leader of university protests for free education. He is also denied the bail while students gathered at a Johannesburg courthouse on Wednesday, 19 Oct, to support him.

Student protests last year forced President Jacob Zuma to rule out fee increases for 2016.