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Student representative council members from around the country have been slammed by leaders of the #FeesMustFall campaign, who say that they have not mandated them to meet with Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande today because they do not represent them.
Students from universities including: the University of the Witwatersrand, Pretoria, Fort Hare, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Tshwane University of Technology and Durban University of Technology have all gathered to meet with officials from the department of higher education and learning in Kempton Park today.
The meeting comes in the wake of one held last month. Last month's meeting was seen as a last-ditch attempt by Nzimande to quell protests, which broke out again this week.
Wits SRC president Nompendulo Mkatshwa championed a quick media briefing, outlining the demands that the group would have going into the meeting.
The demands, which had been decided on this morning, include: free registration, no financial exclusion, issues of National Student Financial Aid Scheme to be ironed out, quality housing for students, equal treatment for African students studying in South Africa, language policies which act as a barrier to access to be done away with, and free education now.
But leaders of #FeesMustFall movements around the country have slammed the meeting. They said they had already repeatedly communicated everything to Nzimande and his department.
The movements include #WitsFeesMustFall, #UWCFeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall.
Reacting on social media, the groups said the student councils were not mandated to be meeting with Nzimande because it was the #FeesMustFall movements that championed protest action and not the student councils.
The meeting between Nzimande and the student representatives is still continuing behind closed doors.
