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The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] demands that President Jacob Zuma releases the fees commission report on the feasibility of free higher education in the country with immediate effect.

The President received the report in August 2017 and nearly three months later he has no released it. We have all waited with bated breath for the release of the report in order to find out whether government will be able to implement free education in the country.

Students are getting agitated and we have already seen sporadic violence in institutions like the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of Free State. We are aware that some universities have started engagements with relevant stakeholders in relation to fee increments for 2018. This further necessitates that the President releases the report with immediate effect.

To prevent another destructive and time wasting wave of #FeesMustFall protests the President must release the report with immediate effect. As a country, we should be moving towards ensuring that the doors of learning are opened for all and the improvement of the skills of academic staff at institutions of higher learning.

Free education is necessary in order to train more young people to be absorbed into the labour market and subsequently partake in the economy of the country. In this regard, we want to state it categorically clear that NEHAWU supports the South African Students Congress [SASCO] in its right to learn campaign and free education and wish our reliable ally a decisive victory in the forthcoming SRC elections.

As NEHAWU, we will monitor the situation and any further delay will prompt us to compel the President to release the report as releasing it is in the best interest of the country and its future.

Issued by NEHAWU