University fee hike for 2016 capped at 6%

Nzimande addressed the media a short while ago following his meeting in Cape Town with university Vice-Chancellors today after days of protests at some of the country's universities over fees. 

Nzimande has encouraged institutional representatives to work to end the protests and immediately resume classes. He has set up a task team is to urgently look into the matter.

"A task team of all stakeholders will be immediately initiated with the view to provide a report on the establishment of a more sustainable fee regime that also recognises the importance of input variables such as the university subsidy from government and higher education cost drivers," he said.

Deputy president of the South African Union of Students, Tebogo Thothela has welcomed the decision. 

However he says the most important conversation will be how this can be avoided next year.

"We can't guarantee what the reaction will be and we shouldn't because power lies within the institutions. Collectively, we've got the difficult task of going back and saying this is the position for now in 2016 but what is the conversation that we need to have to ensure that students from working class backgrounds and our parents don't suffer," he said.      

(File photo)