Snapshot
The 2015 tuition hikes sparked a national student movement in South Africa that demanded comprehensive reform and questioned the political, social, and economic status quo of the “rainbow nation.”
Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.
— Frantz Fanon
On October 14, 2015, students and staff at the University of Witwatersrand occupied the administration building and locked down the university in response to an intended tuition hike. The riot police arrested over 25 students, triggering a thousand more to gather overnight at the local police station demanding the release of their comrades.
Within a week, protests spread to universities across the country (see: TACTIC: Distributed action) not only against fees, but also to demand a broader reform in student affairs. The protests later coalesced under the umbrella of #FeesMustFall, marking the emergence of South Africa’s first major student movement since the 1976 Soweto uprising.
Despite being portrayed as a single-issue movement, “Fees Must Fall” was a manifestation of generational discontent with, and delegitimation of, the ideological, political, and moral contradictions of South Africa’s post-colonial rule.
At Stellenbosch University, students protested the use of Afrikaans as an academic medium of instruction. At the University of Cape Town, the #RhodesMustFall protests problematised the continued celebration of Cecil Rhodes who represented South Africa’s dark past under colonialism and apartheid. Students defaced his statue and demanded its removal from campus. At the university currently known as Rhodes (UCKAR), female students who were victims of sexual violence exposed the crimes of their male counterparts by anonymously publishing a list of perpetrators in what became known as the #RUReferenceList.
One of the movements popular maxims was, “This revolution shall be intersectional or it will be bullshit.” Building on this maxim, “Fees Must Fall” also engaged in solidarity struggles including the fight to #EndOutSourcing, which addressed the demands of underpaid university cleaners, chefs, and gardeners for decent wages.
Despite the intersectionality maxim, some components of the movement pushed against gender-related protests. Unsurprisingly for such a progressive upheaval, the movement diverted its criticism inwards as well as outwards. Internal ideological agitations led to the formation of groups such as #PatriarchyMustFall and #EndRapeCulture by intersectional feminists to counter the de facto silencing of gender issues dominant in national politics within “Fees Must Fall,” as well as a commitment to intersectionality by the female cadres within the movement. (see: THEORY: Feminism).
Despite being portrayed as a single-issue movement, “Fees Must Fall” was a manifestation of generational discontent with, and delegitimation of, the ideological, political, and moral contradictions of South Africa’s post-colonial rule (see: THEORY: Gerontocracy). Students were disgruntled with the political pattern where those who once fought for the freedom and dignity of the majority black population became a ruling elite, co-opted in global capital (see: THEORY: Capitalism) that perpetuated white supremacy and commodified essential services, like education, for profit. The student protests conceived a movement that demanded the decolonization of every aspect of life in South African society.
The 2015/2016 tuition hikes were scrapped only to be re-announced for the academic year that followed, sparking another wave of protests in 2016 and 2017, leading the government to eventually concede to the students demands. The government announced that poor and working class students would have access to free higher education — a decision yet to be implemented as of August 2019.
Key theory
“Fees Must Fall” engaged in non-student struggles such as better pay by university workers and demanded non-fee related reforms from curriculum changes to confronting patriarchy. Intersectionality wasn’t, however, fully reflected in the internal politics of the movement as female cadres found gender issues pushed to the periphery, with some female students facing harassment from their male counterparts even during the protests.
Key tactic
“Fees Must Fall” protests spread to all universities across South Africa in a week, with different universities and campuses independently deciding what actions to engage in. By decentralising the movement, its decision-making processes and actions, “Fees Must Fall” made it difficult for the state to respond in a coordinated manner, or for any single faction to usurp the movement from within.
Key principle
Students raised common concerns and engaged in the “Fees Must Fall” conversation using multiple, consolidated hashtags, yet organized themselves on and across campuses through offline connections and mobilization. Students used online platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to communicate, get live updates on actions, and to brainstorm on which actions to replicate in their campuses under a common front.