SOUTH AFRICAN university students stormed parliament yesterday in protest at a proposed 10.5 per cent hike in tuition fees.

Police used stun grenades as angry students pushed their way through the gates of the parliament building in Cape Town.

Student organisations have rejected a proposal from Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande for a cap of 6 per cent on fee increases, insisting that they must not rise at all.

The African National Congress (ANC) criticised the handling of the protest and announced a meeting with youth and student leaders for today. Earlier, MPs from the Economic Freedom Fighters party, a split from the ANC led by tax-dodger Julius Malema, disrupted parliamentary proceedings by chanting “fees must fall.”

They were quickly removed by parliamentary security, a move welcomed by the ANC.

ANC ally the South African Communist Party (SACP) reiterated its opposition to above-inflation tuition fee rises.

But it joined the ANC in condemning the “proto-fascist theatricals of the EFF and the opportunist manner in which they seek to exploit the genuine concerns of the students to feed narrow party political and private interests.”

The speaker has been forced to discipline Mr Malema and his MPs on several occasions for causing uproar in the house.

The march to parliament followed protests at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg on Monday and at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on Tuesday.

Opposition Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane was booed and told to leave when he got up to speak at the UCT rally.