Fees Must Fall protests ‘led to wrong policy’ in South Africa

Former vice-chancellors say “unaffordable” student aid bill is a regrettable consequence of fallism movement

The vice-chancellors of two of South Africa’s top universities during the ‘fallist’ protests of the late 2010s have criticised the surge in student financial aid that followed the unrest, branding the investment “unaffordable” and questioning its real-world value.

Max Price and Adam Habib headed up the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand, respectively, when violent student protests erupted in South Africa in 2015 calling for the removal of colonial symbols and structures from campuses and demanding free higher education.