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Johannesburg – Students must wait for the fees commission to finish its work before protesting, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said on Sunday.
While the league supported their call for free education, they should rather return to lectures while the commission continued its investigation into the feasibility of free tertiary education, ANCYL president Collen Maine told reporters in Johannesburg.
He was briefing media on the outcomes of the league's national executive committee meeting over the weekend. Fees, the debate over who should succeed President Jacob Zuma as ANC leader, state-owned enterprises, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan were also on the agenda.
Maine said Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande should reverse his decision that universities could increase fees for 2017, up to a maximum of 8%.
Students on campuses across the country had been demonstrating since Nzimande's announcement on Monday. They wanted the immediate implementation of free education.
The ANCYL condemned the violence during some of the demonstrations and said it did not support the destruction of property.
Maine blamed Wits University management for the three petrol bombs found on its Braamfontein campus on Saturday.
"A number of vice chancellors and university management in the country are quite controversial. It could actually be them," Maine said.
He said some managers at institutions of higher learning were part of an agenda pushing for regime change in the country.
"Some have even been dividing students and funding others to cause this anarchy. Some management must also take responsibility," said Maine.
The ANCYL also criticized some student leaders for trying to hijack the students' cause for their own gain.
"We know there are celebrities, the [Mcebo] Dlamini celebrity. You are not sure whether he studies in the Western Cape or in Gauteng. He's everywhere. He must focus on one thing," said league spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize.
