There is a general debasement of politics in much of the world. Figures such as Trump in the US, Modi in India, Dos Santos in Angola and Erdogan in Turkey (not forgetting Berlusconi in Italy not too long ago) have become some of the proper names by which this trajectory is often known. South Africa is no exception. Although the debasement of our politics exceeds Zuma his name has come to stand for a certain kind of political decline.

The two Fallist movements to date at UCT have addressed colonial symbols and fees. Both of these issues could be solved easily – remove all symbols and charge no fees. Don’t hold your breath on this. People will always have heroes and it’s crazy not to use fees generated from wealthy students to subsidize the poorest-of-the-poor.

The real mammoth in the room at UCT that no one seems to be addressing coherently is “decolonization” in all its guises. Until it is defined and implemented, there will be no peace at UCT.

MATRIC RESULTS AN INDICATOR OF PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION IN CRISIS!

The Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill before Parliament is dangerous and desperate. It poses a direct threat to the basic rights of the poorest South Africans — the 18-million people living in former homeland areas, where the law would apply — in that it seeks to legalise a version of unilateral chiefly authority that Parliament and the Constitutional Court have rejected.

Many academics, including myself, have explored why free higher education is not economically viable in South Africa.

Money is not the only issue, though. Quality also matters. And the two go hand in hand. Students have hastened to conflate free education and access to quality education. But introducing free university education will not magically grant students access to quality education, nor employment in the marketplace. There’s a lot of work to be done to achieve this. And in my view this should take precedence over doing away with university fees.

The election of Barack Obama marked the emergence of the Tea Party, a radical right-wing movement that challenged the Republican establishment and ultimately fueled the rise of Donald Trump.

Where did the Tea Party come from? That’s the question renowned sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild set out to explore in her new book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.

Africa is likely to slide down the list of foreign policy priorities of a Donald Trump administration. This is because America’s foreign policy is determined by both domestic and foreign issues.

Professor Drucilla Cornell, Co-founder of the African Institute for Global Social Thought

Professor Mabogo More, Co-founder of the African Institute for Global Social Thought

Professor Sampie Terreblanche, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Stellenbosch University

To say that the police are using disproportionate force at the University Currently Known as Rhodes (UCKAR) is to understate the immense brutality and repressive tactics experienced by students and staff.

Task teams, ministerial committees, judicial commissions: these are just some of the bodies that have been set up to tackle South Africa’s higher education funding crisis since 2011. They’re headed by vice chancellors, retired judges, leading business people and in one instance, South Africa’s deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa.