Higher Education Minister to be Met by Angry Protesters at University

Aviwe Mawana

South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande, will be met by thousands of student protesters from the South African Student Congress (SASCO) who want free education when he arrives at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Pretoria West campus this afternoon.

Nzimande is scheduled to deliver a public lecture to students and members of the public at the university, but the protesters from various Gauteng universities say he should address their needs to be allowed to study for free until they get their university qualifications.


Students from TUT started their protests on campus on Thursday. They interrupted lectures calling for free education and not to be excluded from their studies even when under-performing. This call from the student leg of the country’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) comes after the Congress of South African Students asked pupils to hit teachers if corporal punishment is used in schools.

On Friday traffic came to a halt in South Africa’scapital, Pretoria, when the students marched throughVisser, Paul Kruger and Schoeman Streets. The students partaking in the protest action are from the University of Johannesburg (UJ), the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and the University of Limpopo’s Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA).

It’s expected that Nzimande will address the students upon arrival at TUT in the afternoon.