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| South Africa universities close amid student fee protests | South Africa universities close amid student fee protests |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Protests over fee increases have forced the suspension of teaching at three of South Africa's top universities. | Protests over fee increases have forced the suspension of teaching at three of South Africa's top universities. |
| Protests have spread from Johannesburg's Wits University, closed last week after thousands demonstrated on campus, to the universities of Rhodes and Cape Town (UCT). | Protests have spread from Johannesburg's Wits University, closed last week after thousands demonstrated on campus, to the universities of Rhodes and Cape Town (UCT). |
| Wits University agreed to suspend a 10.5% tuition fee increase on Friday, pending negotiations with students. | Wits University agreed to suspend a 10.5% tuition fee increase on Friday, pending negotiations with students. |
| Protesters argue that poorer, mainly black students would be worst affected. | Protesters argue that poorer, mainly black students would be worst affected. |
| Africa Live: BBC news updates | Africa Live: BBC news updates |
| A statement from Wits University said that a decline in state subsidy over the years, combined with inflationary pressures, were behind the fee increases in recent years. | A statement from Wits University said that a decline in state subsidy over the years, combined with inflationary pressures, were behind the fee increases in recent years. |
| The hashtag #FeesMustFall has been trending across South Africa, in an echo of #RhodesMustFall, which was used by UCT students in their successful campaign to have a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes removed in April. | |
| At Rhodes university in Eastern Cape Province, classes were suspended after students armed with sticks set up barricades of burning tyres, blocking road access to main campus entrances. | |
| Analysis: Pumza Fihlani, BBC News, Johannesburg | |
| Many of the affected universities are historically white institutions and while the demographics in the classrooms have changed since the end of apartheid in 1994, critics say the economic conditions of black families wanting to enrol their children have all but remained the same. | |
| Black students say the institutions' high fees are now keeping them from getting a good education. Many say they rely on student loans and scholarships and these are at times difficult to secure. | |
| It does not take much for an issue to become racially charged here in South Africa as the country still nurses a hang-over from decades of white minority rule. | |
| But ironically it is the "born-free" generation, those born after the advent of democracy, now calling for transformation in the elite institutions. Some are calling for free education hoping this will level the playing fields between the affluent and the poor. |