‘Suspended’ CPUT students call for legal assistance
FIVE senior students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) are calling for legal assistance to help them fight the institution after one of them was expelled and the others allegedly suspended following protests in November last year.
The students said the institution targeted them for allegedly leading student protests. Four of them face disciplinary hearings, and the student who was expelled claimed that he was not part of the protests.
Xolani Booi, a final-year mechanical engineering student; Ayabulela Majavu, a final-year electrical engineering student; Nam Malgas, a second-year chemical engineering student; Yanga Tsama, a second-year civil engineering student; and Ongezo Dayimani, a final-year mathematical sciences student, were arrested during the campus protests against the exclusion of students experiencing financial difficulties.
Booi, who was expelled, said he was arrested because he was allegedly seen by passing protesters, and was told he was among those caught throwing stones at a building. Majavu accused the SA Union of Students of not providing assistance to them.
CPUT student representative council’s deputy president, Sihle Ngxabi, said the SRC condemned the alleged victimisation of the five students.
“We demand CPUT act as recommended by Parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education and lift those suspensions with immediate effect and allow these students to conclude their 2021 academic year,” said Ngxabi.
CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley said disciplinary hearings followed a stringent process.