[CLOSED] #NationalShutDown: Live blog 21-22 October

University of Cape Town (UCT) Students holding banners block the entrance to the university preventing vehicles from entering and leaving during a university shut down. The blockade eventually forced the university to close down for the day. (Ashraf Hendricks)

THE LIVE BLOG FOR 21-22 OCTOBER HAS BEEN CLOSED. PLEASE FOLLOW THE NEW LIVE BLOG FOR UPDATES ON OCTOBER 23, THE DAY #FEESMUSTFALL PROTESTS TOOK TO THE UNION BUILDINGS.

19:04, JOBURG Wits academic Danai Mupotsa has told reporter Pontsho Pilane that the protestors who had been staging a sit-in outside Luthuli House were “badly pepper-sprayed by police as JMPD watched”. The protestors have now left for Wits’s campus health facilities to get treatment.

Back upstairs, Mantashe is going on about why he didn’t sit down with students. (“It was a sign of respect that we were there. It is a different matter to say sit down … If there was traditional mats we would have sat down. Sitting on the floor is beyond what had to do.”)

He then calls on ANC members to join the march because “this should not be seen as a march against the ANC”.

18:51, JOBURG Meanwhile, just outside Luthuli Houses, there is still a small group of protestors, largely women, who are intent on occupying the ANC headquarters.

18:47, JOBURG Mapaila says the problem of affordable higher education is greater than any individual. “Blade does not have money to fund free education – even as a minister, ministers have budgets,” he says.

18:29, JOBURG The ANC and its alliance partners are holding a press briefing on the student fee protests.

Sdumo Dlamini, Cosatu secretary general, says, “We are going to be working with the students, the youth movement in our country and everyone who is concerned with our plight.”

The SACP’s Solly Mapaila says, “We can no longer allow a situation where education is so deeply commodified at tertiary level that it disadvantages particularly children of the working class.”

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe is talking about “[making] changes tonight” in terms of how police hand protestors.

“Where there is rough handling of the protestors, that should be condemned. Where police work properly and manage the protest, that should be commended because one of the risks we have is to go to extremes and just condemn police,” he says.

Of his refusal to sit when the student leaders asked him to, Mantashe says, “We resisted sitting down because there was a balance between complying and being humiliated.”

18:32, BLOEMFONTEIN OFM News is reporting that 15 students from the University of the Free State have been arrested. Earlier today it was reported that students there had attempted to shut down the campus by barring entrances. Water cannons and tear gas were used on the students, according to OFM.

17:53, JOBURG Wits University management has released a statement expressing “broad support for the students demands for more funding for the higher education sector” and outlining ways it is trying to resolve the crisis, given that students are just 10 days away from exams. 17:40, CAPE TOWN CPUT vice-chancellor Prins Nevhutalu has reportedly been chased off campus by students who were unimpressed with an address he’d been giving and who pelted him with food. 16:42, JOBURG Dlamini says: “We are not going to allow the secretary general of the ANC to address us. If he wants to speak, he must give us what we want,” before warning that the students will go to the Union Buildings in Pretoria tomorrow, to see the president of the country. Mantashe takes the memorandum and retreats back into the building. The demands are simple:

        • The ANC must release funds to ensure 0% fee increase

 

 

      • The ANC must realise free, quality education

 

 

      • The ANC must provide resources for workers at institutions of higher learning so they can be in-sourced

 

      16:38, JOBURG As the crowd starts to fragment, and chants of “ANC must fall!” start to rise, Dlamini reminds the crowd that its goal is free, quality education, and says “Let us not be divided by petty politics,” says Dlamini, follow by “Tomorrow we are shutting down Union Buildings.” Mantashe refuses to sit, and the students give up on him. They’re now reading out the memorandum 16:25, JOBURG Outgoing SRC president Shaeera Kalla steps back from reading out the memorandum that the students will hand over to Mantashe – and hands over to a student in the crowd, saying “This belongs to all of us.” Vuyani Pambo, the EFF student leader, is pushing his luck a bit by asking the sec-gen to sit down while the memorandum is read out. Mantashe is not having it, even though the crowd is shouting “Sit down! Sit down!” 16:21, JOBURG Incoming SRC president Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, who has remained in the background for some time, is winning with the crowd right now with struggle songs, and her narration of how the student protestors have been received by government and institutions across the country. “Our network is down, UPs network is down so that we don’t narrate the story, so that we don’t narrate the true story that is happening,” she says. “We are alive and we are radical and we are ready to take it to the streets. A revolution has been coming all year from Rhodes Must Fall to Open Society to Decolonise Wits and now we are saying fees must fall. Amanda! A revolution is coming.” 16:17, JOBURG The students have demanded that ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe come off his podium to stand in the streets with them, and address them — and he’s done so!

16:08 All four of the campuses of the University of Johannesburg have been closed. This comes after unconfirmed reports of clashes between security guards and protestors on the campus. The University of the Western Cape has also suspended all academic activities today and tomorrow. Also in the Western Cape, CPUT students, joined by UWC and UCT, are marching to Granger Bay. 16:03, JOBURG Mcebo Dlamini, the axed Wits SRC president is addressing students as ANC NEC members look on. “We are here demanding one thing, and one thing only – free and quality education in our lifetime,” he says. He has some unkind words for the ANC, and has taken a couple of sideswipes at the EFF as well while he’s at the mic. “The minister of education is undermining himself. Today because the African National Congress put him there, we are reporting him to you – recall Blade Nzimande!” he continues. 15:53, JOBURG There’s an estimated crowd of about 4,000 people in the Johannesburg CBD right now. Student leaders are addressing them for the moment.

15:35, JOBURG Crowds continue to gather at Luthuli House. It’s unclear at this point what their plan going forward is.

15:28, CAPE TOWN The Daily Maverick’s Rebecca Davis is following student protestors from the Cape Peninsular University of Technology who are making their way through the Waterfront area, towards Granger Bay, where there is a campus. The march does not appear to have any clear agenda at this point. Protestors were earlier fired upon with stun grenades as they passed through town.

15:25, JOBURG In case anyone’s under any illusions about why students are protesting, the Umuzi Photo Club has been documenting students’ struggles.

15:04, CAPE TOWN In Cape Town, crowds at the University of Cape Town who had gathered to hear vice-chancellor Max Price speak are beginning to disperse. Price apologised for calling police to deal with students at the Bremner administrative building on Thursday, which resulted in students being sent to jail. ” I’m sorry I got it wrong. I’m hearing about the violence. When I saw those images on TV I went cold as well,” he said, adding “I will commit to working with police and prosecutors to have the charges withdrawn.” Price also said that a task team would be set up to investigate alternatives to outsourcing and that it would report back in six months. This was the sight at UCT’s upper campus as Price was speaking:

15:02, PRETORIA There isn’t a particularly huge crowd in Pretoria but eNCA is reporting that students have blocked the entrance to the building that houses the Department of Higher Education. 14:55 DURBAN Back in Durban, students are attempting to gain entry into an international conference that the vice-chanceller, Ahmed Bawa, is currently hosting at Mansfield Hall, on Dotson campus.

14:28 JOBURG And in case anyone is wondering why the term #StudentsMustFall is trending on Twitter, this has to be seen to be believed. Methinks the minister does not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation.

14:25 JOBURG Meanwhile in the Joburg CBD, student protestors from Wits University and the University of Johannesburg are headed for the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House.

14:28 DURBAN, Zilungile Mnisi reports that the Durban University of Technology has suspended exams until further notice. The SRC earlier addressed students, who are now protesting on campus. Sharper Blade at DUT [lizeka maduna] 13:40 DURBAN, Our reporter Lizeka Maduna says students at UKZN are still vying for the attention of their vice-chancellor. She says they’ve moved to the venue where the VC is in consultation with the executive committee, demanding that he listen to them. 13: 15 ALICE, eNCA reporter Sandy McCowen is at Fort Hare university where students are burning mattresses, raiding stock rooms and generally being ungovernable. Kabelo Kabelo Mogatosi, the DASO Eastern Cape Constituency Chairperson, told us that the issue of fee increases is not something that has started recently but has been an ongoing issue since before the DASO-led SRC even came into power at Fort Hare.

 13:00, CAPE TOWN Protesters released from police custody have shown media copies of what looks like a charge sheet specifying they were being held for “high treason”. Someone should forward the picture to the police spokesperson.

12:40 PM, CAPE TOWN Ra’eesa Pather caught up with Chumani Maxwele and Kgosi Chikane following their release from police custody.

12:30 PM, CAPE TOWN Adrian Bunge and Bobby Chinamora spoke to Ra’eesa Pather after the release of the detained protesters from police custody this morning. “Today is a great day,” Chinamora says, and he goes on to slam media coverage of the protests. He says media has fixated on isolated incidents of violence. 12:10 PM, CAPE TOWN Students detained during the protest at parliament yesterday have been released. Ra’eesa Pather sent us this video.

12:06 PM, JO’BURG A large crowd of protesters in Braamfontein have blocked the entrance to the Nelson Mandela bridge. Our reporters Pontsho Pilane and Aaisha Dadi Patel and are live tweeting from the Daily Vox twitter account.

12:00 PM, GRAHAMSTOWN At least three military helicopters, identified as Rooivalks by Stuart Thebi Lews, have been seen flying over the town this morning. 11:40, JO’BURG UJ has joined the protest! A crowd of protesters from the University of Johannesburg is in Braamfontein. They are expected to meet up with protesters from Wits later today.

11:31, CAPE TOWN This is not exactly “Live” as it’s a video from yesterday but it deserves to be seen. Shot by Shaun Swingler for the Daily Maverick, it shows the moment police got violent with protestors. It’s pretty harrowing. 11:23, CAPE TOWN Ra’eesa Pather reports that a huge group of protestors have arrived at the Cape Town Magistrates Court to support the students. Protestors outside Cape Town Magistrates Court [raeesa pather] Meanwhile, protestors are gathering at UCT’s lower campus.

11:21, RHODES Stuart Lewis in Grahamstown tells us that Rhodes University has been closed for the rest of the week. 11:17, CAPE TOWN Equal Education has reported arrests taking place at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, which is on the edge of the Cape Town CBD.

11:08, CAPE TOWN Great news from Cape Town, where Gasant Abader has decided to let students run the paper tomorrow.

10:38, DURBAN News now from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Westville campus, which has been closed until further notice. Our reporter on the scene, Lizeka Maduna, says that following the vice-chancellor’s failure to meet with student protestors yesterday as agreed, students have decided to continue striking. UDW protest [zilungile] Several UKZN students were arrested in late September during fee strikes, and some of them were released just this morning, on R2,000 bail. We’ll keep an eye on this situation as the day progresses. 10:31 CAPE TOWN You really have to wonder about the state’s communications strategy sometimes. The ANC has released a statement this morning condemning “sensational reporting by some South African media who claim that there are students charged with treason” and saying that “This irresponsible reporting can only undermine a noble protest by students and raise temperatures unnecessary.” Because relaying what lawyers have said they saw on charge sheets last night is super sensationalist. And then we have this from Constitutional law expert Pierre De Vos:

For future reference, it might be a good idea for anyone involved in any of this to photograph/film anything dodgy that they’ve seen and immediately upload to the internet. A photo of that charge sheet would really have come in handy right now. 10:22, CAPE TOWN According to education NGO Equal Education, high school students in Cape Town and Johannesburg are preparing to support university students in their protests. Makes sense – in a couple of years, these kids will also be university students.

EE high school members in Cape Town and Johannesburg are currently mobilising to support university students. This is…

Posted by Equal Education on Thursday, 22 October 2015

10:11 JOBURG Looks like President Jacob Zuma will finally break his silence on the #FeesMustFall crisis when he meets with students and university management at the Union Buildings tomorrow.

9:59, CAPE TOWN Some powerful images of the protests yesterday have been featured on the front pages of newspapers this morning.

9:55, CAPE TOWN There appears to be mass confusion on the question of whether the protestors arrested at Parliament yesterday will be charged with treason. On the one hand, the SAPS is saying that there are no treason charges but on the other hand, lawyers for the students are saying that they have been charged with treason.

Here Popo Mfubu, lawyer for Kgotso Chikane, the son of Reverend Frank Chikane, who was arrested at Parliament on Wednesday, confirmed that he had seen treason on the charge sheet put before the group of six protestors including Chikane who will appear today at the Cape Town Magistrates Court.

At the very same time, SAPS Spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi told eNCA that “that charge of treason was never put on any charge sheet”. He says they were only charged with trespassing and violating the National Gatherings Act.

9:37, JOBURG  Things are relatively quiet this morning. At Wits University police had however started to gather near main entrances to campus. There are about 10 police vehicles parked outside the Empire Road entrance, and at least 20 officers on standby according to eyewitnesses. A police helicopter was also circling overhead.

8:19, CAPE TOWN At the magistrate’s court this morning, 23 of the protesters arrested outside parliament yesterday will be charged for contravening the Regulation of Gatherings Act. A further six, (said to be, Markus Trengrove, Kevin French, Nathan Taylor, Chumani Maxwele, Kgotsi Chikane and Lindsey Maarsdorp) however, were expected to be charged with trespassing and high treason but an SAPS spokesperson has denied this, saying they will be charged for public violence and contravening the Gatherings Act. Ra’eesa Pather is at the court and will bring us more.

THURSDAY, 22 October, 8:04 AM, DURBAN Good morning! Overnight, students from UKZN began mobilising, blocking the path of taxis. Our reporter Lizeka Maduna sent us this report at 2AM.

22:15, CAPE TOWN We’re still around! We’ve heard reports that six of the protesters arrested outside parliament are to be charged for treason. But a clarification now, they have been charged with trespassing and are under investigation for treason. What a time to be alive (And awake).

19:20, JOHANNESBURG Aaisha Dadi Patel is still at Wits and [Start News anchor voice] We’ll bring you more, as and when it happens. [End News anchor voice]

19:00, CAPE TOWN We’re signing off from Cape Town. With a special shoutout to our rockstar correspondents there, Ra’eesa Pather and Ashraf Hendricks.

18:49, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA Thanks to @_senz on Twitter who’s alerted to this message of solidarity for the protests from Down Under.  

18:43, CAPE TOWN Protesters were successfully pushed back into the grounds of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). And while we held our breaths wondering whether police would be storming the campus to arrest protest leaders, the police did eventually leave. The students cheered.

 

 

18:20, CAPE TOWN Stun grenades have been fired on protesters in Cape Town again after protesters threw stones at the police. One woman has been arrested by police.

18:10, JO’BURG Aaaaand we’re just going to break the tension by taking a moment to tell you what’s been happening in Joburg while all eyes were set on Cape Town. We’re evil like that.

At Wits University this morning, students who had slept in Senate House - which they are now calling “Solomon Mahlangu House” - were seen cleaning up and eating breakfast. There was a closed meeting (which The Daily Vox was aaaalmost allowed to sit in on) before students took busses to the Wits Education campus in Parktown, and began marching through the streets of Braamfontein. Our reporter, Pontsho Pilane, tweeted that it looked like Wits was taking the protest to UJ.

The day’s itinerary said that studying was planned between 4pm and 6pm, and a comedy show at 8pm, but considering that students only got back to Wits around 5:30, we think that schedule may be pushed back a little.

  18:08, CAPE TOWN Protestors are backing away from police. There has been no direct confrontation. Every time the police step forward, the protestors tell each other “Comrades, move back, move back!” Students are shouting “Are they gonna follow us down the M3?” Ra’eesa Pather is there and she says: “Students have their hands up. It’s basically a hands up, don’t shoot situation’ They’re trying to make the point that they are really being peaceful, that if he police do come forward nobody is going to resist arrest.”

 

17:55, CAPE TOWN And in true Capetonian fashion, Ra’eesa Pather now tells us that some of the protestors are now taking selfies with the police. “They really are mocking them, they really are defiant,” she says. Okay then.
17:53, CAPE TOWN And a disturbing bit of advice for Ra’eesa Pather via Stuart Lewis in Grahamstown who obviously knows more about these things than we do: “Shells with white tips are rubber. Any other colour could be live.” Good to know Stuart, good to known. Stay safe everyone.
17:45, CAPE TOWN Riot police are gathering and protestors are now starting to leave for fear of further confrontations. Police have given protestors four minutes to leave.
17:41, CAPE TOWN Ra’eesa Pather has been speaking to protestors, still in the Cape Town CBD. “I’m actually a student at a private university but this is not about %$^&ing me, it’s about the whole nation and us coming together to make a [stand] because people might as well be going to private schools if your school fees are costing seventy ^%&*ing grand!” said Koketso, who asked not to give her last name. Koketso says that the protestors were gathered together peacefully, singing, some distance from the gates when police told them it was an illegal gathering and they had three minutes to leave. Armoured carriers, or Hippos as they’re known, was brought out and that’s when police tarted firing what’s believed to be rubber bullets at the protestors. 17:28, CAPE TOWN A small update from Ra’eesa Pather, in Cape Town. Students are still very much together in the CBD but there is no indication of what their plans might be going forward.

17:15 Forgive this delayed reaction, but the writer of this blog does not have television. It appeared from reports that SABC has not been covering the mayhem at Parliament. Instead they aired a discussion panel on the medium term budget speech. Because priorities!

A further look showed they did flight footage and reports on the protest at some time. In contrast eTV has basically had the police response to the protestors on loop. So I guess we have lots of material for Media Studies 101 next year. If you can afford your varsity fees, that is. 17:10, CAPE TOWN There’s been a lull in the protests, it’s relatively calm. Protestors are hanging around, singing. Some are making sandwiches. No seriously.

16:52, CAPE TOWN Some breaking news now from City Press’s parliamentary reporter Andi Makinana:

16:48, CAPE TOWN Some disturbing images filtering through on Twitter now. This one shows a protestor who appears to have been injured by a stun grenade.

16:28, CAPE TOWN The ministers appear to be retreating into Parliament. Not really sure what the ministers are after with this lame attempt at addressing the crowd. They haven’t exactly done anything to win their the students’ goodwill.

16:25, CAPE TOWN It’s all too much for him. Blade has given up.

16:23, CAPE TOWN Students, referring to fee increases, are chanting “Zero!” as Nzimande tries to make some sort of statement.

16:18 And now news of the fee crisis and chaos in Cape Town is going global.

Meanwhile Nzimande has come out to address students. Students are however very angry at this point, they’re chanting “Blade must fall!” and giving him the middle finger. 16:11, CAPE TOWN Ra’eesa Pather spoke to a UCT student who was there when police started throwing stun grenades into the crowd; he witnessed people falling down and being trampled. “We were sitting down. People had their hands up. No police were attacked. All we were doing was we were throwing water bottles at them. That what the justification was for throwing the stun grenades was. They said we were throwing water bottles at them. What the ^%$&? What is a water bottle going to do to you?” he said. 16:01, CAPE TOWN Meanwhile the ANC has issued a statement. Don’t get too excited. It’s not what you think it is.

15:49, CAPE TOWN The crowd outside Parliament appears to be dispersing. An eye-witness describes to Ra’eesa Pather what escalated the situation: apparently protestors started banging on a car that was trying to get into Parliament and “it then zoomed off nearly hitting people”. Several protestors told Pather that they believed the car was carrying Blade Nzimande. Pather could however not confirm whether this was indeed the case. “This is why they threw the stun grenades at us,” said the person, who asked to remain anonymous. “People aren’t trying to attack you, they’re just trying to stop you from coming in, so people portraying these guys in the cars as victims, it’s *&^%ing bullshit because the people being run over are victims,” he added. Meanwhile Daily Maverick reporter Rebecca Davis spotted one of the implements police had earlier used on protestors.

15:43, CAPE TOWN Our reporter Ra’eesa Pather, who was with the protestors, was for a while cornered inside the gates of Parliament, after police refused to allow her further in (she doesn’t have Parliamentary accreditation), and refused to let protestors out. She’s back outside Parliament now, and here she speaks about how she had earlier seen police allow two separate groups of protestors, who had been separated by a gate, join together before stun-grenading the lot of them: 15:37, CAPE TOWN As Parliament adjourns its sitting on the medium term budget, City Press reporter Andi Makinana notes that there was nothing in the budget about the university fee crisis.

15:32, CAPE TOWN Veteran journalist Janet Heard points out the absurdity of a situation in which Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene continues to deliver his medium term budget speech inside Parliament as student protestors are manhandled just outside the gates. At one point, police fired stun grenades on protestors who had been singing the national anthem.

15:16, CAPE TOWN More from Parliament. (Apologies for the sideways aspect. Things were getting hairy out there.) A protestor asks police “Where are the weapons? Where are the weapons? Does anyone need to get hurt today?” and immediately afterwards a police offer throws what appears to be either a stun grenade into the crowd.

Another view of protestors fleeing from police, via Angel Campey on Twitter. As he films, someone in the video shouts “God help the kids!”:

14:53, CAPE TOWN Police have fired stun grenades at peaceful protestors outside Parliament Pather reports more stun grenades being fired, protestors are running and there is red dye coming out of whatever has been fired. Protestors are throwing bottles and cardboard boxes at police. 14:25 CAPE TOWN There are about 2,000 protestors outside Parliament from UCT, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of the Western Cape. Stellenbosch University students are expected to arrive soon. Ra’eesa Pather says the atmostphere is “electric”. People are protesting for free education, workers rights and a decent living wage. Earlier, protestors chased off the EFF Floyd Shivambu who had come down to meet with them. DA leader Mmusi Maimane was similarly rebuffed on Tuesday when he turned up at a student protest at UCT. Protestors seem to feel that politicians, who had not previously expressed strong views on the subject, are now simply being opportunistic.

14:48 CAPE TOWN The EFF has just been removed from Parliament after a protracted bout of chanting “Fees must fall!” 13:55, CAPE TOWN Our reporter Ra’eesa Pather says there are already about 1000 protesters gathered outside parliament. And those numbers are expected to swell in the next hour as students from UCT make their way into town.

13:40, GRAHAMSTOWN Rhodes Vice Chancellor Sizwe Mabizela has promised to return to students at 5PM this afternoon after meeting with senior management. The registrar, Dr Peter Fourie also addressed the students.

1:30, DURBAN, Students at UKZN are waiting for the Vice Chancellor to address them. But police have threatened to shoot protesters who have moved to fetch students out of lecture halls.

  12:50, CAPE TOWN, UCT protesters are trying to make their way to parliament where a crowd has already gathered. We’re also hearing that students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology are being prevented from leaving their campus to join the protest outside parliament. We’re hearing though, that students convinced a jammie shuttle bus driver to take them to parliament, using one of the university busses. The university management then apparently reported the bus stolen and the bus was then stopped en route to parliament.

12:30, JOBURG Many people are wondering why students from the University of Johannesburg have been absent in these protests. The Doornfontein campus was permitted to close today for protests but our information indicates that the university council refused to allow protests at its Kingsway and Soweto campuses for fear of a “Wits situation” developing there. UJ’s SRC elections are scheduled to take place tomorrow. 12:20, POTCHEFSTROOM, We’ve been following discontent over the University of North West’s language policy for a while now.  Jeanette Mosala from ReformPuk told Pontsho Pilane that the SRC was asked to leave a student meeting with the Vice-Chancellor yesterday “because students that have not paid their tuition on the campus had their student cards blocked and they could not access the campus or the library and this is the week before exams. “It was us Reform PUK members that went to the Vaal  campus to get the SRC there to intervene on our behalf, they contacted the Vice-Chancellor who was shocked to hear that is what is happening on our campus. He then called the campus and they unblocked the students’ cards. The proposed increases for our campus is said to be at 12% but the university has not confirmed. Students raised this at the mass meeting and were already started to march against that. During the mass meeting there was an incident at the statue is that white students had known about our meeting because it was well publicised, they had formed a barricade around the Toitus statue which is right in front of the venue we had the meeting in – that created friction but there was no violence.”   12:05, CAPE TOWN Meanwhile, students at the University of Stellenbosch are also protesting today. Students have gathered on Rooi Plein to protest against fee increases. On Tuesday the university secured a court order to remove students who had occupied the campus administration building.

11:30, CAPE TOWN Most of the protests at UCT today are by workers. Students are continuing with their exams, despite negative feelings towards management which has denied requests to move exams.   11:21, CAPE TOWN – Protestors at UCT are trying to grow their numbers by encouraging those on campus to join them.

GRAHAMSTOWN, Meanwhile, the protest at the university currently known as Rhodes has begun:

11:05, GRAHAMSTOWN – The human shield has been dissolved and earlier tensions have dissipated as the protestors prepare for their march. Police have supplied marshalls with candy-stripe tape. 10:30, CAPE TOWN Workers are leading the march at the University of Cape Town’s lower campus and are demanding that all workers be allowed to leave work today to join the protest. And from the front lines, we bring you another poster worth seeing: Oscar free students arrested [raeesa pather] 10:25, RHODES – Students at Rhodes University will  be joined by  students from the Eastcape Midlands College and members of trade union Nehawu, in a march scheduled to begin at 11. Protestors intend to hand a memorandum to government when they reach their destination. Reporter Stuart Lewis says academics and white students were asked to go to the front of the march, a move we saw yesterday during protests at the University of Cape Town, the logic being that police are less likely to retaliate against such protestors than against black protestors. 09:45, JOBURG – Good morning fam! In case you’ve just woken up (#mustbenice), the students are marching on. Higher education institutions across the country are facing a complete shut down as students protesting against fee increases make their voices heard. In Grahamstown, our reporter Stuart Thembi Lewis says Rhodes students will be joined by NEHAWU and students from a local FET college, Eastcape Midlands College.

Meanwhile in PE, The Herald reports that police have fired rubber bullets on student protesters. Students however remain defiant, insisting they did nothing to provoke police.