Parents need to play a bigger role in debates over university fees, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are the parents in all of this? They are leaving big decisions in the hands of 19 and 20-year-old students,\u201d he said during an interview on Pretoria-based Impact Radio.<\/p>\n
He said government had started talking to parents about their children. They were the ones helping their children get through university.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents just want to demand and some of them are not even willing to listen and engage,\u201d Nzimande said.<\/p>\n
A caller who identified himself as Thabo and a parent of a university student, said: \u201cI told my son I don\u2019t have money. If he is going to waste time, he should tell me his plans for the rest of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nzimande said those who wanted free education were being reckless.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you say universities can\u2019t increase [fees], you are killing them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nzimande condemned the violence at Wits University, and the arson at the University of KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s Howard College campus law library on September 6.<\/p>\n
It was barbarism, he said. Irreplaceable documents were lost in the fire at UKZN.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened at Wits was done by criminals and thugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubber bullets<\/strong><\/p>\n On Wednesday afternoon, police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse a group of rock-throwing Wits students on the streets of Braamfontein.\u00a0Three students were injured and two were arrested.<\/p>\n Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel said three students were injured. One was shot with rubber bullets.<\/p>\n Several universities around the country suspended activities after Nzimande on Monday announced the universities could increase fees up to a maximum of 8%.<\/p>\n He told Impact Radio it was an \u201cinflation-linked adjustment\u201d.<\/p>\n Nzimande said students from households earning less than R600 000 a year would not have their fees increased for the second year running.<\/p>\n Students outside this category would have to wait to see what increase individual universities decided on.<\/p>\n I would shut down universities for 6 months: Mantashe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Fees Must Fall 2016 protests hit boiling point in Joburg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nNews24<\/a><\/h3>\n
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