#FeesMustFall

#FeesMustFall Campaign

Published by S Lurewana

24 March 2016

                                         #FeesMustFall influence on social media

It is a students’ protest campaign which began in mid-October 2015 against the fee increment at universities in South Africa. The protests also not only included the issue on fees increment, it also included the calling off of the outsourcing and employees (such as cleaners, securities) to be insourced (employed directly by universities). These student protests started from Wits university and spreading over to University of Cape Town along to Rhodes University before going viral to other universities in South Africa.

University fees can increase up to hundreds of thousands which leads to Black students who are financially needy or financially disadvantaged to struggle to meet those fees. There are bursaries and student financial loans such as Eduloan, NSFAS etc but they do not go that further mile to make sure that students’ demands like residence, registration and book fees are met. If a student has an unpaid or outstanding debt, he or she will not be able to see the academic results and also be blocked from registering to enroll or graduate the following year, now a student is forced to take a gap year to find a job in order to obtain their certificate or further their studies. 1. Read more about #FeesMustFall  2. FeesMustFall 2015 SA

Social media advantages for #FeesMustFall:

 The use of this hashtag on social media platforms helped the students to gain more support from other universities, the public and other organizations daily, because it was pointing out and rectifying the flaws in the educational system.Powerful Voice Of Youth 

·                                                                                                                  Support from celebrities/video

     Students views or demands were halfway met and now students will not have to take time off because they cannot afford registration fee and finish their studies within the stipulated time. 

            The campaign helped in a way that there is no more competition over a place at varsity between financially needy and financial stable students.

·         PRPs get to know the key leaders of student’s representatives to respond to and communicate with. Support from Graca Machel

Disadvantages of hashtags on social media:

·         Misinterpretation of pictures, this leads to not getting support if the pictures of protests are misinterpreted because students are violent so if only violent action pictures go viral on social media then the brand or       campaign reputation can be ruined.

·         Protests are always disruptive by nature, so disruptive pictures on social media leads to arrests. More disadvantages

Mixed views/video

I would recommend that the PRPs make themselves familiar with social media platforms and be active all the time of the issue so that they can respond quickly to the matter. Hashtags makes it easier for any campaign to be recognized and get support so people or organizations need to be responsible and monitor them all times, no harmful posts or pictures to be used.