By Prof. Linda du Plessis, senior deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning at the North-West University (NWU). 

A decade ago, South Africa was confronted with the largest wave of student-led protest since apartheid: #FeesMustFall. Ten years later, we are still grappling with the same burning questions: How do we protect students’ right to protest while also protecting their rights to learn and to be safe? And how do we provide a sustainable financial-support model for higher education?

Universities and government cannot suppress legitimate dissent. Neither can they accept violence, intimidation and destruction as legitimate features of student activism.

#FeesMustFall helped accelerate increased financial support for poor and working-class students. However, its hasty implementation and subsequent governance failures created a new set of challenges, leaving both students and universities vulnerable. The funding crisis remains clearly visible: total outstanding debt across the post-school education system now stands at R59 billion.

It is widely claimed that universities withhold qualifications because of outstanding payments, leaving graduates unable to apply for jobs. This is misleading. At the North-West University (NWU), students receive their academic transcripts, and prospective employers can request confirmation that a qualification has been awarded.

In October 2025, the University of the Free State (UFS) suspended all academic activities following student protests relating to the introduction of what the university described as a fairer, more equitable and sustainable financial-support system.

Recent events at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) demonstrate how quickly legitimate grievances can develop into a wider crisis. Students raised concerns about deteriorating residences, financial pressures, withheld certificates and a proposed financial-recovery plan that included upfront academic and residence payments. The university council withdrew the draft plan to allow for further consultation. Reports on these events also described burning tyres, blocked roads, stones allegedly being thrown at vehicles and damage to infrastructure. Academic activities were suspended, students were instructed to leave their residences, and surrounding communities were also affected.

We should not confuse the legitimacy of a grievance with the legitimacy of destructive actions carried out in its name. Violence risks weakening the very causes that students are seeking to highlight. When campuses close to reduce safety risks, academic risks increase, and valuable teaching and learning time is lost.

Whose responsibility, then, is it to protect students’ academic futures?

The solution lies in shared, but never blurred, accountability.

Universities must provide accessible and responsive channels through which students can raise concerns. They must explain the reasons for difficult decisions and consult before significant changes are introduced. Government and funding agencies must provide adequate funding opportunities, reliable payment systems and transparent accountability. Student leaders must represent grievances responsibly and distinguish democratic mobilisation from coercion. No student should be forced to participate in a shutdown or be prevented from learning. Law enforcement and security services must protect people and property lawfully and proportionately, with a focus on de-escalation. Municipalities and accommodation providers must fulfil their contractual and public-service obligations.

Ultimately, every role-player must deliver not merely what has been promised, but what can reasonably be expected of them, while safeguarding every student’s right to learn and every employee’s right to work.

The experiences of CPUT and the UFS demonstrate the vicious circle in which universities find themselves. If they do not recover outstanding fees, institutional debt becomes unsustainable. When they introduce or enforce payment requirements, however, they face resistance and protest, even though withholding a physical certificate does not erase an earned qualification or necessarily prevent it from being verified for employment purposes.

We would not ordinarily expect a product to be handed over before the agreed payment arrangements have been honoured. Similarly, while universities must treat indebted students with compassion and provide reasonable repayment options, they cannot remain financially sustainable if outstanding fees are allowed to accumulate indefinitely.

The enduring lesson of #FeesMustFall is not that protest should be silenced. It is that student success requires sustainable institutions that remain safe and conducive to learning. Universities are spaces of academic freedom and knowledge generation, where constructive debate should be welcomed and the next generation of leaders should learn not only how to challenge injustice, but also how to do so responsibly.

As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” The true power of student activism lies not in bringing a university to a standstill, but in moving society towards a fairer future.

Prof. Linda du Plessis