Cape Town - Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande battled to address students outside parliament after police used stun grenades to push them outside.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene's mini budget statement was overtaken by#feesmustfall protesters, who had rejected Nzimande's 6% university fee increase cap and were demanding he address them on Wednesday.
After students had endured the full wrath of South Africa's police force, with stun grenades detonating around them as they sang the national anthem, they were eventually forced outside the parliament precinct.
WATCH: Police force acts during national anthem
Once the situation was safe, Nzimande walked up to a crowd of students, with police and steel gates separating the minister from his students. He raised his hands to greet the students and then waited for the noise to subside. It never did and his load speaker took a while to arrive, which gave the students enough time to chant "Blade must fall!"
Eventually, he managed to squeeze in a few words, but not many people heard them. This Fin24 journalist was by his side to capture fragments of that speech.
WATCH: What you didn't hear Blade Nzimande tell the students
Nzimande said student bodies had met with government about a framework to discuss the process forward and said he was awaiting feedback from them.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) attempted to jump on the band wagon in parliament, calling point of order and making the house vote on whether the budget should be postponed to address the fee protest. After refusing to let the issue lie, security was once again called in to throw EFF members out of parliament.
Fin24 spoke to EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu, who shared his views on the events that unfolded inside and outside parliament.
"They thought before that it was just narrow, socialist ideology for us to demand free education," he told Fin24. "Here are students, black and white, who are demanding free education and saying they do not want fee increases."
AUDIO: Shivambu speaks out on #feesmustfall