Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma says he sympathises with the concerns raised by students who are protesting against the escalation of tuition fees at universities.
Addressing the media as Mozambican President Fillipe Jacinto Nyusi paid his first state visit to South Africa, President Zuma on Thursday said education was expensive, making it hard to access for poor students.
He said it was important for the relevant stakeholders to come together to collectively tackle the matter.
“I think it is incumbent upon all of us as leaders, not just from government, [including] the education sector and everybody in the country to ensure that we address the issue and ensure that we make education access easy for everybody,” President Zuma.
Earlier in the day, the Presidency released a statement saying that President Zuma will meet with the management and leadership of universities as well as student leaders on Friday to discuss the stalemate regarding university fee increases.
President Zuma met the Vice-Chancellors and Chairpersons of Councils on 6 October and they had agreed to establish a task team to explore solutions to short-term student funding challenges.
He said government fully understands the pressure and difficulties that students coming from poor households and the working class face.
President Zuma said the students have shown determination and he hopes tomorrow’s meeting will be fruitful.
“I hope tomorrow we will be able to come with solutions. We are looking forward to a situation where education is not so expensive that the poor people are not educated. – SAnews.gov.za
