South African students march in capital before meeting with Zuma

By Peroshni Govender PRETORIA (Reuters) - Thousands of angry South African university students capped a week of protests on Friday with a march on the buildings in Pretoria where President Jacob Zuma has his offices. Police had set up guard around the building before a scheduled address by Zuma. The students chanted slogans, argued with the police and pulled down a fence around the building, as the post-apartheid "Born Free" generation starts to flex its political muscle. "He's not taking us seriously, we've been here for a while," one student said on television. Student leaders are due to meet Zuma and university professors at the Union Buildings to press their case, arguing that the costs of tuition are too high for many blacks, perpetuating South Africa's racial inequalities. "The President will use the meeting to gain a first-hand account from students about issues that are of concern to them which affect their capacity to learn and do well at the institutions," the presidency said in a statement. "President Zuma also welcomes the gathering of students at the seat of government, the Union Buildings, today." Tuition fees vary across different universities, but can run as high as 60,000 rand ($4,500) for medical students in a country where white households earn six times more than black households, according to official figures. Protests - some of them violent - have broken out at universities across the country this week, taking the ruling African National Congress (ANC) by surprise. ($1 = 13.3265 rand) (Additional reporting by Dinky Mkhize in Pretoria and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and Stella Mapenzauswa in Johannesburg; Writing by James Macharia, editing by Larry King)