Wits students protest over tuition fee increase

Fudzy said:
Thanks for the feedback sammyD, how many magic mushrooms does it take to convert a balloon into smoke? :D :p
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Lol. We were jumpy at anything that looked out of the ordinary. Even if we didn't see smoke, if it didn't look right we were like "run now, laugh at ourselves later".
 
Fudzy said:
Thanks for the feedback sammyD, how many magic mushrooms does it take to convert a balloon into smoke? :D :p
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We didn't see the balloon as smoke or vise versa ((duh), the smoke was within the gates and the balloon was directly above us when we saw it.
 
SammyD said:
We didn't see the balloon as smoke or vise versa ((duh), the smoke was within the gates and the balloon was directly above us when we saw it.
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Then we got close to the union buildings, started seeing smoke and we knew this was gonna be a disaster. There was a bit of a scare and people almost started running back but on careful inspection, it turned out to be just a balloon floating in the air.
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Sorry, I assumed it was the smoke that turned out to be a balloon. I appreciate your on location feedback, thanks for the posts.
 
SammyD said:
They said they were right in front when Mcebo was making his speech and when everyone started running one of their caps fell and they found themselves looking for the cap (strange but true). Not long after, they found themselves as the only two there with a ring of gas canisters around them.

Then the next thing they know, they have TUT students throwing rocks at them. They managed to hop scotch until they were fairly safe.

They got back to the buses. Everyone got on the buses and we were ready to go. Then TUT started. When buses tried to leave they were like "Wits is not going anywhere".

When we realised that they weren't letting up, we asked them why they won't let us through which was when they told us they weren't gonna die for us. We were like "nobody asked you to die for us. If you weren't causing havoc you wouldn't be doing any dying at all".

So we sat there until this girl called a TUT student and asked why they were protesting. We got what we wanted so what were they doing. This guy said they were protesting because NSFAS money for groceries etc was decreasing from R1000 to R500. So we left it and just sat there.

Next thing our bus marshal came in and tells us that TUT students went into the bus parked in front of ours and told them that if we don't all get off the buses, they were gonna burn them.

People started panicking wanting to get off. The bus marshals tried to calm everyone down saying we were safer in the buses than outside. Someone threw something that was burning under our bus but it quickly burned out so it wasn't given much attention.

After a while someone came onto our bus and said the bus in front of us (was the first one) was on fire. People started freaking out wanting to get off the bus immediately. We got off and the bus marshals told to run behind the buses and were emptying all the buses.

Someone else asked a TUT student who was running with beer looted from the bottle store why they were doing this and he said "TUT started complaining about fees a long time ago and were ignored but everyone listens bcos its Wits
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Fark me another.....hectic. So you agree now that most of these extramural (non student) "protesters" had ulterior motives. They are nothing better than savages?
 
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biometrics said:
You never change. :D
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So then tell me? IYHO do these people that take over peaceful student marches in "support" and then act violently, loot shops, run amok and act like hooligans...are they civil?

Just read SammyD's posts. He could have been in hospital or even worse by now?
 
Seriously said:
So then tell me? IYHO do these people that take over peaceful student marches in "support" and then act violently, loot shops, run amok and act like hooligans...are they civil?

Just read SammyD's posts. He could have been in hospital or even worse by now?
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Have you ever been part of any protest?
 
Seriously said:
So then tell me? IYHO do these people that take over peaceful student marches in "support" and then act violently, loot shops, run amok and act like hooligans...are they civil?

Just read SammyD's posts. He could have been in hospital or even worse by now?
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Civil in SA is a vague term.
 
rpm said:
The Vice-Chancellors and Chairs of Council represented through Universities South Africa today presented the following proposals to the joint meeting hosted by the Presidency at the Union Buildings in Pretoria:

1. All parties should collectively commit to a zero percent (0%) increase for 2016, with government stepping in to make up the difference.

2. Universities will independently commit to deliberate on their expenditure and make immediate efficiency gains.

3. The Presidential Task Team that was established will deliberate and attend to the plight of students in debt and increase funding for financial aid.

4. The immediate establishment of a commission to look at the restructuring of the entire system, including fee increases, subsidy and cost drivers and historical inequality, including infrastructure renewal.

5. The medium-term goal is to ensure that all students in need have free access to a quality higher education.

6. The establishment of a separate commission to address the challenge of outsourcing to allow universities to reaffirm our broad commitment to ethical standards.

7. In return, students are to resume all academic activities immediately and complete their examinations. Each university will determine an examination extension that is appropriate to its circumstances.

8. All parties are to commit to peaceful interaction, non-violence and to refrain from engagement in the politics of humiliation.

The meeting lasted several hours and after intense debate and deliberation between all stakeholders, President Zuma, in a televised address to the nation, made the following announcement:

1. There would be a zero percent (0%) increase in fees for 2016.

2. University Vice-Chancellors will extend the time for the examinations period to compensate for time lost.

3. Long-term issues to be addressed include free education, institutional autonomy, racism, and what students call “black debt”.

4. The Presidential Task Team that has been established to address funding mechanisms will be broadened to look at all these and broader transformation issues affecting higher education.

5. There will be an attempt by government to ensure that all students arrested will not be charged.
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Not good enough. We want free education. WHat's so difficult about making it happen? Force the rich to pay for it. Also what about those colonial remnants that we are seeing everywhere in SA? Jeezus, we are still stuck in the past.
 
SammyD said:
T

Next thing our bus marshal came in and tells us that TUT students went into the bus parked in front of ours and told them that if we don't all get off the buses, they were gonna burn them.
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Sickening. Threatening to burn fellow students. Clearly they are not ready for higher education.
Send them back to primary school :twisted: :wtf:
 
SammyD said:
I didn't read her tweet history but from the looks of that one she thinks black Wits students are coconuts (black on the outside, white on the inside)

https://twitter.com/fistvoices/status/657600456957521920

This is what they say is the problem.
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To be honest, they need to look at their history and question themselves why have never succeeded in being taken seriously, why their demands went unanswered.

The coconut term is also getting old. Just because people apply their mind to a unity and the consensus therein doesn’t make them white it makes them reasonable. I applied this to the tweets that I had read on today's proceedings.
 
AthenianOwl said:
Not good enough. We want free education. WHat's so difficult about making it happen? Force the rich to pay for it. Also what about those colonial remnants that we are seeing everywhere in SA? Jeezus, we are still stuck in the past.
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What have you done to deserve it?

Want to be current? Go get a job and pay for your own studies.
 
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/rand-dips-amid-feesmustfall

Rand takes a dip amid #FeesMustFall

By 14:12 GMT the rand was trading 1.26 percent down at 13.5740, reversing earlier gains as a stronger dollar also weighed down the local currency.

"The student protests doesn't reflect well to offshore investors and the fact that the government is already under pressure from a fiscal perspective and the situation adds to pressure going forward," said Ricardo Da Camara, market analyst at ETM Analytics.
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