Protests hamper South African university’s effort to reopen

Police responded with teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. How can you sit comfortably in a lab whilst just a few steps away, students are being victimised and shot at for calling for free education?

At the University of KwaZulu-Natal the academic programme was suspended until further notice following running battles between protesting students and police at the Westville campus yesterday. Seoka, who joined an earlier student march, said police had militarised the campus, and he criticized them for not wearing IDs on their uniforms that would make them accountable.

The violence, which also involved campus security guards, erupted outside Wits’ Great Hall auditorium, the scene of several recent clashes.

Jacaranda FM journalist Maryke Vermaak, documented how protestors were able to stop a bus in the middle of the street in Braamfontein, try to tip it over, and then set it alight. “This intimidation takes various forms – there are reports of intimidation of students in residences as well as those who attend classes”, Wits said.

There is tension in the campus Braamfontein, in the University of Wits, where police presence has increased, according to the television station SABC. The university has assured students and parents that it is committed to completing the academic year. They have not been placated by a government pledge to cover the fee increases for poorer students. We also request staff and students to stay away from areas of conflict for their own safety.

At least 60 students were camped outside the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court in support of the eight.

Students clashed with police and private security at the university’s Hatfield campus.

For more than a year across South Africa, students have been marching for free higher education – many of their parents fought Apartheid and they say this is their generation’s cause.

The protests are said to have spread to a number of other universities in the country. On Monday, students with the #FeesMustFall protestors lashed out after tough restrictions were placed on protests on campus. “We are not equal in this university”, he said.

Government officials say free higher education is impossible in the short term.

A statement by the Wits Executive Team at 18:00 said the university would be open on Tuesday.

Monday’s chaos started with protesters moving through science and mathematics buildings, seeking to disrupt classes.