The unrest appeared to reach a climax on Wednesday night when North
West University students torched a car and buildings, forcing an
indefinite shutdown of the campus.
South
Africa's President Jacob Zuma speaks during his visit to the Lodewyk P.
Spies Old Age Home in Eersterust, Pretoria, December 15, 2015.
South African President Jacob Zuma
on Thursday condemned a spate of disturbances at universities by
students protesting over various grievances that have turned some
campuses into battlegrounds.
The unrest appeared to reach a climax on Wednesday night when North West University students torched a car and buildings, forcing an indefinite shutdown of the campus.
At
least four universities have been hit by sporadic protests this year
following last year's nationwide marches by students against university
fee increases.
The protests have now morphed into complaints affecting individual campuses, unlike the #FeesMustFall demonstrations.
"The
burning of university buildings at a time when we are prioritising the
education of our youth is inexplicable and can never be condoned," Zuma said in a statement.
Studies
have been disrupted and some universities have been closed over new
demands even after Zuma yielded in October to student demands not to
increase university fees in 2016.
He also promised then that the government would spend more to help poor students meet the cost of university education.
Students
have argued that higher fees would disadvantage black learners in
Africa's most industrialized economy who had little access to
universities during decades of white apartheid rule, which ended in
1994.
North West University spokesman Koos
Degenaar told Talk Radio 702 that the violence there began after
protesters disrupted a student council meeting, prompting security
guards to fire tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
At
the University of the Free State, a group of mostly black protesters
brawled with mainly white spectators at a rugby match on Monday night,
as seen on a clip that aired on social media.
"The residences were evacuated from the morning and the campus has completely shut down (as) there was too much damage," a student who declined to be named said.
At the University of Pretoria, some students are demanding to be taught in languages other than Afrikaans, a language they identify with apartheid.
And at the University of Cape Town (UCT), students are protesting at a lack of adequate campus accommodation.
"UCT has come in for its share of vandalism and violence," UCT vice chancellor Max Price
said, adding that on Thursday students threw excrement across the
floors of many lecture venues and open spaces in several buildings on
Upper Campus.
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