JOHANNESBURG. — The planned shut-down at the University of the Witwatersrand yesterday started off peacefully with a heavy police presence, but stun grenades and tear gas had been used to disperse gathered students, some of whom have been detained. Protests also continue on other campuses.When asked by News24 if Wits was considering the possibility of closure, Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel said, “They are meeting at 5pm to discuss. They are also trying to mediate this afternoon but I will let you know if there are any developments on that front.”
Despite running battles with the police, students protesting refused to back down. At least two police cars were stoned and damaged in #FeesMustFall protests at the university.
And, at least 12 students were arrested at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus. Two were arrested at Wits. Following the suspension of academic activities for two weeks at Wits, the institution opted to open its doors yesterday, saying that if it did not the academic year would be in jeopardy.
As classes got underway yesterday morning, staff and students were advised to stay indoors. There has been no official communication saying classes have been stopped. The group began protesting at Wits at about 9am. They marched around campus in song, calling for those in class to join them.
Students were warned by the institution yesterday that a full police and security contingent would be present on campus today and no large groupings would be allowed.
A group of “concerned citizens” including musician Simphiwe Dana, Wits professor Pumla Qgola and advocate Dali Mpofu (who is also the chairperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters) joined the protest in solidarity with students.
The concerned group marched in front of students for protection as they walked up Yale road on the campus.
The EFF chairperson said, “All of us who claim to support the call for free education must find a space to support your struggle without directing if you must go right or you must go left, but to make sure that our people are not killed — to make sure that the talk of another Marikana we heard from the vice chancellor is not going to happen.”
Mpofu was speaking to students at Wits after police fired stun grenades and arrested two students earlier yesterday morning. He said that a contingent of lawyers was being arranged to deal with student arrests and other issues.
What followed was a pattern of the police firing rubber bullets and stun grenades, and students retreating and quickly regrouping.
The firing stopped when female protesters walked towards police bare-breasted.
National police commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane was set to address the media at Wits.
At the University of Cape Town, some classes were halted yesterday as protesting students called on management to agree to a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) before resuming academic activities.
About 200 students marched from UCT’s upper campus to middle campus in an attempt to interrupt lectures.
Student leaders asked lecturers to dismiss their classes, saying the university should not be open while it had not agreed on a date for the disciplinary hearings of suspended, arrested and expelled students.
Two lectures in the Beattie Building and Chris Hani building respectively were both brought to an early end after lecturers dismissed their students following the interruption. The protesting students eventually made their way to UCT’s Bremner Building, where they read out their grievances.
“We all want to go back to school. It’s not 80 percent or 90 percent, as (vice chancellor) Max Price said, it’s 100 percent,” student leader Athabile Nonxupa told the crowd outside the building.
“But we want to go back with our five expelled comrades. We need to finish the TRC process first.” Nonxupa said students were not the only ones who needed to be exonerated by the process, and that Price needed to account for some of his actions as well.
A number of students told News24 that talks with management had stalled on Sunday. Since then, no progress had been made and they felt aggrieved that the university had opened on Monday.
There was a large private security presence on UCT’s upper and middle campuses yesterday. Security did not engage with the students, but only observed. Security guards left the entrance of Bremner Building when students arrived and stood aside for the gathering protesters.
Students sat down in the middle of the road as Nonxupa addressed them. They left for UCT’s lower campus around noon. Management did not address them. UCT was due to hold a press conference at 13:00 regarding the eight students arrested between Monday and Tuesday morning on charges of intimidation.
Six of the eight have since been released from Claremont police station. Demonstrations over the cost of university education, which is prohibitive for many black students, have highlighted frustration at enduring inequalities in Africa’s most industrialized country more than two decades after the end of apartheid.
Protests first erupted last year, then subsided as the government froze fee increases and set up a commission to look into the education funding system. The unrest boiled over again, closing some classes and universities, when the commission said on Sept. 19 that fees would continue to rise, albeit with an 8 percent cap in 2017.
— City Press/Agencies.