Parliament - Deputy Higher Education Minister Mduduzi Manana
has commended the police for the way they have handled the #feesmustfall
student protests.
''We would be sitting here with another Marikana,'' Manana
said as he praised the police during a meeting of Parliament's portfolio
committee on Higher Education on Wednesday.
''Our police really acted, you know, they exercised serious
restraint, and there is no doubt that they were provoked,'' he said.
Stun grenades were used last week against protesting
students who had breached the parliamentary precinct, as well as on students
protesting in the Cape Town CBD. Water cannons and stun grenades were also used
on students protesting at the University of the Western Cape. At the Union
Buildings, police vans were filmed chasing after some of the people who had
gathered ahead of President Jacob Zuma's announcement last Friday that there
would be no fee increase next year.
''Parliament and the Union Buildings are National Key
Points,'' continued Manana. ''The manner in which they were stormed should be
discouraged.
''We must discourage this provocation because our police are
at times provoked and the matter in which they exercise restraint is
commendable. So the message that we want to send to them is they did well.
''Our focus could have been swayed to other things.''
Earlier, committee chairperson Pinky Phosa had asked whether
it was not possible to use other less severe methods to respond to protesting
students, such as water cannons.
In Cape Town alone, 29 students were arrested by police
after breaching the parliamentary precinct while Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene
was delivering his medium term budget.
Some of the students originally faced a charge of high
treason, but this was removed from the charge sheet and charges included public
violence instead.
The opposition DA has likened the police action to the 1976
student uprisings.
