South Africa Freezes University Fees After Days of Protests

South African President Jacob Zuma today announced there will be no increases on university tuition as originally planned, with the news coming as days of protests against the fee hikes began to take hold across the nation.

Following a meeting with student leaders on Friday, Zuma addressed the nation in a televised speech to discuss the changes to a plan that would have seen tuition costs grow by up to 11.5 percent.

"There will be a zero percent increase in fees for 2016," the leader announced.

The news comes following violent protests in Pretoria this morning after demonstrators stormed the Union Buildings, the site of government institutions including the president's house. The protesters set fires that police stamped out with water cannons and authorities fired stun grenades into the crowds.

As the announcement was made public, Zuma appeared to have cancelled a planned address to the students themselves. Reports from the ground indicate that teargas and rubber bullets were being used at Union Buildings to disband protests.

— Nickolaus Bauer (@NickolausBauer)October 23, 2015

Scenes unfolding outside union buildings. Pockets of intimidation seen here. — Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba)October 23, 2015

— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba)October 23, 2015

Student protests erupted in the country last week in light of the planned tuition increases, eventually spreading across the nation from Johannesburg and Cape Town to cities like Pretoria and Durban. Some of the demonstrations escalated and stun grenades were also deployed by cops on Wednesday when protesters in Cape Town attempted to ambush the police precinct, Reuters reported.

At the University of Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town on Thursday student demonstrators there burned tires and trash cans during protests that extended most of the night. Authorities deployed tear gas on the demonstrators. Video posted on YouTube shows the UWC demonstrations.

Coinciding with economic decline in South Africa in recent years, government subsidies for students have declined. The tuition hikes would have gone into effect for the 2016 school year, impacting a cohort of students who are part of the "born-free" generation, coming of age after the end of white-majority rule during the Apartheid era.

Students rebuffed initial government offers to bring the fees increases down to just 6 percent. As white and black students have joined together to participate in the demonstrations, participants say the tuition increases would have the largest impact on poor black students who bear the brunt of staggering economic inequality more than 20 years after Apartheid ended in 1994.

With the unrest falling at the end of the school year, exams have been delayed by many universities. Zuma said the exam period would be extended to make up for lost time.

Additional demands made by organizers on Thursday and submitted to officials included free quality education and changes to both staffing and curriculums. Zuma did not address these specifics.