South Africa: Gordhan calls for end to violence on campuses

South African Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday while delivering his medium term budget policy statement at parliament vowed to do his best to bring normality back to campuses.

“The thing is that the allocation for each of these period is correct, Because many academicians, and others, fail to reason that we should invest more on students and through that,, we can truly launch the new generations of young people on the basis of education much more strong’‘. he said.

While delivering his statement, South African police fired stun grenades, water cannon and tear gas on to disperse students protesting outside parliament.

South African students and police clashed in violent scenes in the capital Cape Town on Wednesday (October 26) over the government’s education funding announcement.

The finance minister during his budget policy statement said financing of education was his highest priority. Adding that higher education institutions will receive an extra 17 billion rand ($1.2 billion or 983.3 million pounds) over the next three years.

“The spirit in which we want to organize things is the following: we want you to come to the negotiating table, so that we can talk of concrete proposals’‘ he added.

The government of Africa’s most industrialised country is under pressure to improve access to education following the protests that have disrupted learning at various campuses.

Finance minister plugs some gaps, but South African economy is still precarious https://t.co/VbnWikPGj4 via SATodayNews

— laura oneale (zerrydo) October 27, 2016

Weeks of demonstrations calling for the scrapping of university fees, prohibitive for many black students, have highlighted frustration at enduring inequalities in South Africa more than two decades after the end of white minority rule