Wits students protest over tuition fee increase

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LBXAC20 said:
wow. that guy should really carry some pepperspray or a taser next time...still inconceivable that media would be attacked at university but cmon did the guy not watch what happened last week at the union buildings
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Sadly it'll then turn into a 'media' is assaulting us, #mediamustfall etc with Malema marching on 'white' Independent.
 
schumi said:
She said the protesting students were demanding that people leave their lectures and classes. They apparently attempted to disrupt an engineering lecture, but students stood their ground and said they would not move, and the lecture continued.



News24

Source

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Two-allegedly-assaulted-by-protesting-students-Wits-20151028
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1. They should have known better than to mess with mining engineers.
2. Considering last nights events, its quite ironic that the lecture they disrupted was an explosives lecture.

Disclaimer: That's if this article is referring to the lecture that was disrupted in the Chamber of Mines building this morning.
 
Wits protest heats up as police use stun grenades

JOHANNESBURG - Police have used stun grenades on protesting students at Wits University.

The officers, dressed in full riot gear, arrived at one of the entrances this afternoon to end a blockade by students who have been preventing access to the university.

Wits officially resumed its academic programme today, but several classes have been disrupted by students protesting in solidarity with the university’s workers.

The protesting students say they want the workers to be employed permanently by the university, instead of external companies.

The ten students were sitting at the universities main gate, preventing access to the institution when the police arrived.
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More at http://ewn.co.za/2015/10/28/Wits-protest-heats-up-as-police-use-stun-grenades
 
I really don't understand what the outsourcing of workers has to do with the students? It does not affect them at all? Every company in SA (large companies) outsources some work, usually cleaning, to a specialist company so that they can focus on their core business. In Europe companies are outsourcing more and more of their non-vital functions. Does it really matter to a student if the staff are employed by the university or an external company?
 
Calls for more security to be deployed to Wits

JOHANNESBURG - Incidents of intimidation and assault at Wits University have become centre stage, with calls for more security to be deployed to campus.

A small group of protesting students and workers have been demonstrating, blocking access to campus and attacking students who are attending lectures.

Second year law student, Labeebah Mohamed, says she arrived this morning with the intention of resuming her studies, but she says she was chased by two protesting students who threatened to burn her textbooks.
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More at http://ewn.co.za/2015/10/28/Calls-for-more-security-to-be-deployed-to-Wits
 
Habib would quit if he cared about students - EFF leader

Lizeka Tandwa and Naledi Shange, News24

Johannesburg - University of Witwatersrand Vice Chancellor Adam Habib would resign if he really cared about the students, Wits EFF leader Vuyani Pambo said on Wednesday.

Pambo told Habib that he had lost the students' trust.

Habib attempted to address students at the university after he had earlier promised to speak to them following a protest by a group of students and workers who called for an end to outsourcing.

Habib asked for a month to address their outsourcing concerns, but students refused to accepted that and shouted that he was making them angry.

The workers said it would be too late to address their concerns in a month because, by then, the university would already be closed.

Attempting to diffuse the situation, Habib asked to meet with the leaders of the workers, but the crowd which had surrounded him refused, with Pambo adding that there would be no private meetings.

Meanwhile, one of the workers in the crowd told Habib that they worked for R22 a day, did not receive payslips and had been informed that they had been suspended because of their participation in the strike.

The workers begged Habib to intervene and ensure that workers would not lose their jobs if the university put an end to outsourcing.

Habib said he would call a labour broker and would tell them that workers should not be prejudiced. He said he could not make a decision until he had done an analysis of what it it would mean to stop outsourcing.

He was prepared for workers to choose who ever they wanted to look at the books with him and requested that he be allowed to go so he could speak to the university council. The group refused.

Students want cops removed from campus

Habib told the crowd that every child of a worker at the university who was admitted to the institution would be funded.

One student also called for the workers to be granted medical aid.

Habib told the group that, despite the criticism, he had in some areas he had done better than some of his predecessors, while in others, he had done worse.

He told the group that he was not the one behind university decisions, but rather the Wits council.

The students also called on Habib to have the police removed from the campus.

Habib said he did not have the authority to remove the police, adding that the campus was not safe after several fires were started on the premises earlier on Wednesday.

Protests at Wits started two weeks ago when the university announced a proposed 10.5% fee hike for 2016.

They quickly spread to campuses around South Africa, eventually culminating in President Jacob Zuma announcing a freeze in university fee hikes for 2016.

Academic activity at the university has not, however, returned to normal, as some students claim that their other grievances should be addressed before they head back to classes ahead of the final exams.

News24
Source
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...f-he-cared-about-students-EFF-leader-20151028
 
The logic of these students.

Zero hope for this country. Time for real leadership. Suspend all the protesters and remove them by force. Tertiary education is a privilege and these ****ers are abusing that privilege.
 
Vrotappel said:
The logic of these students.

Zero hope for this country. Time for real leadership. Suspend all the protesters and remove them by force. Tertiary education is a privilege and these ****ers are abusing that privilege.
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Education (in all forms) is a right, not a privilege.
 
AthenianOwl said:
Education (in all forms) is a right, not a privilege.
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Come on! These f@ckers are busy burning the place down - it's not their *right* to destroy education as they are trying to do.

I hope I am still alive when you finally wake up to the real world and get your head out of the ideological s hit hole it's in at the moment!
 
AthenianOwl said:
Education (in all forms) is a right, not a privilege.
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Since when? Even with free university you still need to perform WELL to EXTREMELY WELL at school (depending on what degree you are studying of course), otherwise you wont get accepted into university. With more entrants just comes higher admission requirements. In fact I'd go as far as to say that a significant portion of CURRENT university students should not even be there!!!
 
Why do you think it's a right?
What makes you entitled to it?

You do have access to education. So your right is provided for. You have the right to own a Ferrari as well, wether you can afford it is a different story.

Water is a right because with out it you can't survive.
Basic education is a right because with out it you can't help yourself.
The issue is you confuse need to have with very nice to have.

But we have seen the people that advocates everything free. Free money to be printed soon to pay for the food nobody is going to plant and provide cause who wants to work for something if you just get it free. Nobody will make you a TV and a car because they have free money so why would they go to work. Free free free EFF logic.

But we will forgive them it must be hard to be that stupid.

Free education doesn't mean a free degree, you have to work for it. Hard work. Something none of these give it to me for free crowd wants to do.
 
AthenianOwl said:
Education (in all forms) is a right, not a privilege.
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Education like all else costs money. The lecturers must be paid. The students need toilet paper to wipe their butts in the toilets after eating varsity lunch. The light bulbs have to burn.

Someone has to pay that. And there are not enough payers in SA to provide free education. Well there would be if ESKOM was not so badly fsked up and trade unions did not ask for exorbitant increases and embarked on so many strikes. Never mind the govt overtaxing.

Now education can be a right in that nobody can be refused access as long as,
1. They can afford it.
2. They can find a bursary.
3. They are intelligent and hard working enough - so need to meet some minimum requirement.

Even in places where varsity education is free, people still have to pass exams and some degrees are so competitive there really is no right to do say medicine for everybody. You want to do med, you have to have straight As. And this would still occur even if education was free in SA, which would mean education is not a right because much of it seems to be reserved for those who do well in tests.

Now there's no test to write for the right for free speech, free association, health care etc.
 
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