South African students are expected to hold protests at campuses across the country to demand their debts be written off. This follows protests in Johannesburg on Wednesday in which one person was killed after police fired rubber bullets to disperse students protesting outside the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
The South African Union of Students has threatened a shutdown of campuses and ‘rolling mass action’ unless the government bows to its demands.
Students are demanding that those who owe up to 150,000 rands ($9,850) in fees still be allowed to register for the new academic year. The cost of university education has become a symbol of the inequalities that endure in South Africa.