Outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela on Tuesday said she sympathised with university students across South Africa who are currently engaged in a fight for access to education.

“As we are going away [end of her non-renewable term], there is still the difficult issue of social justice regarding access to education. As Public Protector South Africa we sympathise with the students,” Madonsela told reporters at her Pretoria offices.

“We are aligned to the plight of the students and we hope that a solution will be found so that learning can continue without hindrance. We believe that there is social injustice in the manner in which the gates of learning open to our children in institutions of higher learning. All this needs us to work together to find a solution.”

Madonsela, who is reaching the end of her non-renewable seven-year term this month, however cautioned that the unfolding crisis at institutions of higher learning had a broader impact for South Africa.

“Our view is that the crisis that is unfolding in our higher education system constitutes a threat to our constitutional democracy and calls for the involvement of all stakeholders in meaningful engagement,” said Madonsela.

She said her office would want to see an end to the wave of violence accompanied the students uprising demanding free education.

Numerous higher education institutions across South Africa have been temporarily shut down while police struggle to contain protests.

Several people have been injured in violence relating to the protests, and a worker Wits has died after inhaling fire extinguisher gas. Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande recently said the cost of damage related to the #FeesMustFall campaign was approaching R1-billion.