FeesMustFall

The correct title of this article is #FeesMustFall. The omission of the # is due to technical restrictions.
#FeesMustFall
A group of students raise their hands in the air to signal that they have come in peace.
Date12 October 2015 – October 2016
Location
South Africa[1]
Caused byAn increase in fees by South African universities
MethodsProtest
Resulted in
  • No university fee increases in 2016
  • Over R 800 million in property damage[2] (roughly equivalent to US$59 million)
  • Increased government funding for universities
Casualties
Arrested619[3][4][5]

#FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement[6] that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. The goals of the movement were to stop increases in student fees as well as to increase government funding of universities. Protests started at the University of Witwatersrand and spread to the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University before rapidly spreading to other universities across the country.[7] Although initially enjoying significant public support the protest movement started to lose public sympathy when the protests started turning violent.[8]

The 2015 protest ended when it was announced by the South African government that there would be no tuition fee increases for 2016. The protest in 2016 began when the South African Minister of Higher Education announced that there would be fee increases capped at 8% for 2017; however, each institution was given the freedom to decide by how much their tuition would increase. By October 2016, the Department of Education estimated that the total cost in property damage due to the protest since 2015 had amounted to R600 million (equivalent to US$44.25 million).[9]

  1. ^ Wesi, Tsholofelo (22 October 2015). "London to join 'Fees Must Fall' campaign". The Citizen. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  2. ^ Dentlinger, Lindsay. "#FeesMustFall damage costs soar to nearly R800m". Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  3. ^ Sesant, Siyabonga; Eliseev, Alex; Grootes, Stephen; Koyana, Xolani (22 October 2015). "30 STUDENTS ARRESTED DURING #FEESMUSTFALL PROTESTS". Eyewitness News. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  4. ^ Dludla, Nqobile (20 October 2015). "Police arrest 23 as students protest tuition fee-hike plan". Times Live. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  5. ^ Herman, Paul (17 October 2016). "567 Fees Must Fall protesters arrested since February". News24. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  6. ^ "Book provides in depth analysis of #FeesMustFall movement". 702 co Za. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  7. ^ Masa Kekana; Lauren Isaacs; Emily Corke (19 October 2015). "TUITION FEE PROTESTS SHUT DOWN 2 OF SA'S BIGGEST UNIVERSITIES". Eye Witness News. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. ^ Langa, Malose; Ndelu, Sandile; Edwin, Yingi; Vilakazi, Marcia (1 January 2017). "#Hashtag: An Analysis of the #FeesMustFall Movement at South African Universities". Africa Portal. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  9. ^ Staff Reporters. "Cost of #FeesMustFall now R1bn, says universities official". Rand Daily Mail. Retrieved 31 October 2016.