- The South African Union of Students says it met with various stakeholders including the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission over university fee protests.
- Following a meeting with Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande SAUS says they met with university SRCs and unanimously decided to end the national shutdown over fees.
- According to SAUS, 22 out of the 26 universities have agreed to suspend academic exclusions for the 2020 year.
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) says it has reached an agreement with higher education stakeholders, thus ending the national shutdown of institutions of higher learning over fees.
In a statement, Saus said it engaged with the Public Protector, the South African Human Rights Commission, and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training to find an alternative solution to address funding issues at institutions of higher learning.
SAUS said that it also met with Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimade on Monday and subsequently shared feedback with SRCs on Tuesday.
"The meeting reflected on the last two weeks; the interventions and developments which have been made across the sector against the backdrop of the 15 demands tabled to the minister," said SAUS.
According to the organisation, following student protests and various engagements, 22 out of the 26 universities had agreed to suspend academic exclusions for the 2020 cohort of affected students, and a significant number of universities had started to unblock students with debt so they could register.
"The Parliament Portfolio Committee on Higher Education confirmed that the free education discussion, Heher Commission report, and student debt matters will be tabled as priority areas for discussions," said SAUS.
"Following the above interventions, SAUS met with SRCs on the 30th of March 2021, and the meeting resolved unanimously to bring the #NationalShutdown to an end and immediately begin the process of encouraging all students who have been affected by the online process to go back to campuses," said SAUS.