This article analyses the 2015 student mobilizations in South Africa (SA), which arose in opposition to a 10% hike in tuition fees planned for 2016 at the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) and spurred a massive student reaction across all the universities of the country. After only 10 days of mobilization, the protest, also known as #FeesMustFall by virtue of the most popular Twitter hashtag associated with it, succeeded in halting the hike. How and why did the protesters win? To answer this question, this study combined various qualitative methods of analysis. The author carried out in-depth interviews with all the relevant actors involved in the issue, and analysed documents relating to the movement elaborated by the students in the year of the protest (2015), as well as the main policy documents on higher education in post-apartheid South Africa (1994–2016) released by the government. The author argues that massive and disruptive student protests play a crucial role in ‘young’ democracies, as is the case of today’s South Africa, in which higher education is still considered an important societal issue, and university-level students a legitimate political actor. Where students are perceived as a legitimate element of the political system, it is more likely for them to have an impact on society.
AltbachP (1991) Student political activism. In: AltbachP (ed.) International Higher Education: An Encyclopaedia. New York: Garland, pp. 247–260.
2.
AltbachP (1992) Politics of students and faculty. In: ClarkBNeaveG (eds) The Encyclopaedia of Higher Education. New York: Pergamon.
3.
BennettA (2004) Case study methods: Design, use, and comparative advantages. In: SprinzDNahmiasT (eds) Models, Number and Cases: Methods for Studying International Relations. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
4.
BennettAGeorgeA (2001) Case studies and process tracing in history and political science: Similar strokes for different foci. In: ElmanCElmanM (eds) Bridges and Boundaries. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press.
5.
BleeKTaylorV (2002) Semi-structured interviewing in social movement research. In: KlandermansBStaggenbergS (eds) Methods of Social Movement Research. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
6.
BooysenS (2016) Two weeks in October: Changing governance in South Africa. In: BooysenS (ed.) FeesMustFall: Student Revolt, Decolonisation and Governance in South Africa. Johannesburg: WITS University Press, pp. 22–52.
7.
BosiLGiugniMUbaK (2016) The consequences of social movements: Taking stock and looking forward. In: BosiLGiugniMUbaK (eds) The Consequences of Social Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–37.
8.
BrooksR (2016) Student politics and protest: An introduction. In: BrooksR (ed.) Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives. London: Routledge, pp. 1–11.
9.
BursteinP (1999) Social movements and public policy. In: GiugniMMcAdamDTillyC (eds) How Social Movements Matter. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 3–21.
10.
CeleMLuescherTBarnesT (2016) Student actions against paradoxical post-apartheid higher education policy in South Africa: The case of the University of the Western Cape. In: LuescherTKlemencicMJowiJ (eds) Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism. Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 182–201.
11.
CiniL (2017) Italian students as a political actor. The policy impact of the recent student mobilizations in the field of higher education. PArtecipazione e COnflitto10(1): 306–332.
12.
CiniL (2019) The Contentious Politics of Higher Education: Struggles and Power Relations within English and Italian Universities. London: Routledge.
13.
CiniLGuzman-ConchaC (2017) Student movements in the age of austerity: The cases of Chile and England. Social Movement Studies17(5): 623–628.
14.
CiniLChironiDDrapalovaETomaselloF (2017) Towards a critical theory of social movements: An introduction. Anthropological Theory17(4): 429–452.
15.
della PortaD (2013) Clandestine Political Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16.
della PortaD (2015) Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back in Protest Analysis. Oxford: Polity Press.
17.
EverattD (2016) Standing on the shoulders of the giants? Successive generations of youth sacrifice in South Africa. In: BooysenS (ed.) FeesMustFall. Student Revolt, Decolonisation and Governance in South Africa. Johannesburg: WITS University Press, pp. 126–147.
18.
FriedmanS (2014) South Africa: Electoral dominance, identity politics and democracy. In: DoorenspleetRNijzinkL (eds) Party Systems and Democracy in Africa. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 47–68.
19.
GiugniM (1998) Was it worth the effort? The outcomes and consequences of social movements. Annual Review of Sociology98: 371–393.
20.
HodesR (2016) Briefing: Questioning ‘Fees Must Fall’. African Affairs116(462): 140–150.
21.
HutterOKruckenG (2014) The rise and fall of student fees in a federal higher education system: The case of Germany. In: ErtiHDupuyC (eds) Students, Markets and Social Justice: Higher Education Fee and Student Support Policies in Western Europe and Beyond. Oxford: Oxford Studies in Comparative Education, pp. 85–110.
22.
KapsteinEConverseN (2008) The Fate of Young Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
KemmerzellJ (2010) Why there is no party ban in the South African constitution. In: BogaardsMBasedauMHartmannC (eds) Ethnic Party Bans in Africa. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 89–110.
24.
KlemencicM (2014) Student power in a global perspective and contemporary trends in student organising. Studies in Higher Education39(3): 396–411.
25.
KlemencicMLuescherTMugumeT (2016) Student organising in African higher education: Polity, politics and policies. In: LuescherTKlemencicMJowiJ (eds) Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism. Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 9–26.
26.
KolbF (2007) Protest and Opportunities. The Political Outcomes of Social Movements. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
27.
LudersJ (2016) Feminist mobilization and the politics of rights. In: BosiLGiugniMUbaK (eds) The Consequences of Social Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 185–214.
28.
LuescherL (2015) Theorising student activism in and beyond the 20th century: The contribution of Philip G. Altbach. In: KlemencicMBerganSPrimozicR (eds) Student Engagement in Europe: Society, Higher Education and Student Governance, Council of Europe Higher Education Series No. 20. Brussels: Council of Europe, pp. 33–50.
29.
LuescherL (2016) Student representation in a context of democratisation and massification in Africa: Analytical approaches, theoretical perspectives and #RhodesMustFall. In: LuescherTKlemencicMJowiJ (eds) Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism. Cape Town: African Minds, pp. 27–60.
30.
LuescherLKlemencicM (2016) Student power in 21st-century Africa: The character and the role of student organising. In: BrooksR (ed.) Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives. London: Routledge, pp. 113–127.
31.
McAdamD (1982) Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
32.
NyamnjohF (2016) #RhodesMustFall: Nibbling at Resilient Colonialism in South Africa. Mankon: Langa.
33.
O’DonnellGSchmitterP (1986) Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
34.
TrowM (2006) Reflections on the transition from elite to mass to universal access in modern societies since WWII. In: ForestJAltbachP (eds) International Handbook of Higher Education. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 243–281.
35.
VennessonP (2008) Case studies and process tracing: Theories and practices. In: KeatingMdella PortaD (eds) Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
White Paper on Higher Education (1997) South Africa.
