The Unfinished Business of Fees Must Fall: Challenges in South Africa’s Higher Education System

The #FeesMustFall protests of 2015 to 2016 marked a watershed moment in South Africa’s higher education landscape, bringing attention to longstanding issues of access, equity, and transformation. While the movement led to some policy adjustments, such as increased financial aid through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), significant challenges remain unresolved. This paper examined the “unfinished business” of #FeesMustFall, focusing on systemic issues such as access and affordability, infrastructure disparities, curriculum decolonisation, governance inefficiencies, and underfunded research. The paper used a qualitative research methodology because it allowed for an in-depth and detailed analysis of a research phenomenon. The methodology utilised in the paper involved collecting and analysing data from both primary and secondary sources. The findings show that the historical legacy of apartheid continues to shape inequalities, particularly between historically disadvantaged institutions (HDIs) and historically white institutions (HWIs). Despite efforts to transform the higher education sector, progress has been uneven. Periodisation theory, which conceptualises and frames development or change and transformation of historical phenomena as unfolding in terms of distinctive time periods, was used to provide historical insight into the unfinished business of #FeesMustFall. The paper concludes that addressing these challenges requires collaborative action from students, universities, the government, and private industry to ensure that higher education fulfils its transformative potential in South Africa. State the contribution of this study to scholarship.