In our special episode for this week, the incoming President of the Student Representative Council, Kefentse Mkhari, joins the podcast to discuss the wave of national protests against the current fee system. Mkhari explains the demand of the #FeesMustFall movement: free, quality and decolonised education.

We also address the recent violence during protest, the referendum called by Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib and the way forward for the Wits University community.

Photo Credit: Aaisha Dadi Patel

Disclaimer:

In this interview Mr Mkhari makes two allegations, which we checked out. The first is that the academic calendar for 2016 had been “contracted” in such a way as to disadvantage students. We checked the 2016 calendar against the 2015 calendar, and found that it had not been shortened as he alleged. The second allegation was that VC Adam Habib owns 35% of the auditing company employed to run the controversial Wits “poll”. We contacted Professor Habib for comment. He categorically denies any ownership in the company expressed his displeasure that a student leader had “lied” about this.