Cape Town – National Council of Provinces Chairperson, Thandi Modise, says the events that unfolded in the Parliamentary precinct on Wednesday were "regrettable".
Parliament called a special media briefing late on Wednesday after riot police dispersed hundreds of students protesting on the steps of the National Assembly against university fee increments for next year.
Many universities around the country were closed on Wednesday, including the University of Cape Town, Rhodes, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Tshwane University of Technology and Pretoria University.
The Chairperson said at the briefing that while Parliament awaits a confirmation from the police, seven people were believed to be arrested for attempting to breach a security gate at the National Assembly.
She described the events as "unprecedented."
“We indeed would like to say that today’s incidents were unprecedented, as Parliament we regret these incidents because we have been told that a few students, as well as a few members of the public order policing were injured in the attempt to disperse the march by the students.
“We also note that the students did make their request to be addressed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training [Dr Blade Nzimande] before the sitting of the National Assembly this afternoon.
“We do however appreciate that the Minister did address students after the sitting,” she said, referring to the Finance Minister Nhlanla Nene's tabling of the the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.
On Tuesday, Minister Nzimande convened an urgent meeting with higher education stakeholders to discuss and come up with a common framework and approach to the university fee increases for 2016.
At the end of the meeting, held in Cape Town, stakeholders agreed to encourage their respective constituencies to engage in institutional negotiations at universities with a view to achieve a fee increase of not higher than a CPI-related increase of 6% for 2016.
Students were expected to report back to their constituencies on the proposal.
But on Wednesday, students marched to the Parliamentary precinct.
“Parliament was not given a notice that students would march to the precinct,” said Modise, who added that instead of embarking on an illegal march, students should have given Parliament space to tackle the concerns around fee increases.
“While as mothers of students at universities we sympathise with the students and the parents with regards to the high fees and the high cost of education in general, we propose that Parliament be given the space to look into the fee increases for the year 2016.
“As Parliament, we want to request the students to allow us that space to use our oversight committees to interrogate the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement and see how Parliament through the prescripts at our disposal can respond,” she said.
Many of the students remained camped outside of the Parliamentary precinct. – SAnews.gov.za
