Rhodes vice-chancellor Sizwe Mabizela said he would sign a commitment to students that no academically deserving student would be excluded from Rhodes for not being able to pay tuition.
He said he had previously personally signed surety for students who were performing well but could not afford to complete their degrees.
“We are in this together. This is not your struggle, it is our struggle,” he said to cheers. Mabizela was responding to several demands from students made during a day of protest.
These included that no students be victimised or singled out for prosecution for participating in the protest, that fees be decreased by 15% and that Mabizela sign a written commitment to his verbal undertaking of not excluding students on a financial basis.
Mabizela phrased his undertaking carefully yesterday evening when he addressed students in the pouring rain. “Everyone who deserves to be here must have the opportunity to be here,” he said. “I will sign to make sure we don’t exclude a student for financial reasons if that student deserves to be at this university.”
A plea by Mabizela that the university return to work tomorrow was met with boos.
He congratulated students for the peaceful way they had conducted the protest. It was the only university in the country where protest had been peaceful. One student stood up to thank the management for the fact that they had been receptive to and aligned themselves with the protest.
“You should be thanking yourselves for not calling the police and creating confrontation.”
The university yesterday evening also indicated that the 15% decrease in fees was not viable for the university as it translated into a R54-million loss of income.
The pouring rain finally drove students to leave the outdoor meeting while management and the SRC went back into a meeting to chart a way forward.
Mabizela had earlier yesterday led thousands of students and staff in a peaceful march through the streets of Grahamstown to protest high fees.
Walking for kilometres arm in arm with students, the VC said he believed nationwide protests over exorbitant fees were the “beginning of something big” in higher education.
“Today we joined thousands of young people across the country to send a message to our government, the rest of the community and private sector that young people deserve the opportunity to acquire higher education.
“We must not deprive them because they are born into a family of little means.”
Recent student protests over high fees gained momentum yesterday when 13 institutions across the country shut down until tomorrow to voice their disapproval over high fees and recent claims by Higher Education minister Blade Ndzimande that the issue was not a national crisis.
Speaking to more than 2500 students and staff from Rhodes University and nearby Eastern Cape Midlands College after the march, Mabizela said they must send a “clear and simple message” to government that something needed to be done urgently.
Rhodes VC leads peaceful march
He said he had previously personally signed surety for students who were performing well but could not afford to complete their degrees.
“We are in this together. This is not your struggle, it is our struggle,” he said to cheers. Mabizela was responding to several demands from students made during a day of protest.
These included that no students be victimised or singled out for prosecution for participating in the protest, that fees be decreased by 15% and that Mabizela sign a written commitment to his verbal undertaking of not excluding students on a financial basis.
Mabizela phrased his undertaking carefully yesterday evening when he addressed students in the pouring rain. “Everyone who deserves to be here must have the opportunity to be here,” he said. “I will sign to make sure we don’t exclude a student for financial reasons if that student deserves to be at this university.”
A plea by Mabizela that the university return to work tomorrow was met with boos.
He congratulated students for the peaceful way they had conducted the protest. It was the only university in the country where protest had been peaceful. One student stood up to thank the management for the fact that they had been receptive to and aligned themselves with the protest.
“You should be thanking yourselves for not calling the police and creating confrontation.”
The university yesterday evening also indicated that the 15% decrease in fees was not viable for the university as it translated into a R54-million loss of income.
The pouring rain finally drove students to leave the outdoor meeting while management and the SRC went back into a meeting to chart a way forward.
Mabizela had earlier yesterday led thousands of students and staff in a peaceful march through the streets of Grahamstown to protest high fees.
Walking for kilometres arm in arm with students, the VC said he believed nationwide protests over exorbitant fees were the “beginning of something big” in higher education.
“Today we joined thousands of young people across the country to send a message to our government, the rest of the community and private sector that young people deserve the opportunity to acquire higher education.
“We must not deprive them because they are born into a family of little means.”
Recent student protests over high fees gained momentum yesterday when 13 institutions across the country shut down until tomorrow to voice their disapproval over high fees and recent claims by Higher Education minister Blade Ndzimande that the issue was not a national crisis.
Speaking to more than 2500 students and staff from Rhodes University and nearby Eastern Cape Midlands College after the march, Mabizela said they must send a “clear and simple message” to government that something needed to be done urgently.
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