Two arrested as police shut down student protest
POLICE used stun grenades to disperse about 150 Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) students who were marching to Parliament to hand over a memorandum to the Department of Higher Education and Training yesterday.
The dispersion took place as the disciplinary hearing of four suspended CPUT students got under way at Velocity Chamber in Keerom Street.
Luxolo Nogobela and Ndiphiwe Tokwe, from the CPUT Cape Town campus, were held in custody by the police.
The police stopped the students halfway up Plein Street, saying they needed a permit from the City of Cape Town for the mass gathering.
The police warned the group to disperse and to go back to the railway station.
While still in confrontation with the students, police threw a stun grenade to disperse the crowd.
Some of the students who fell while running said they felt traumatised by the sound of the stun grenade and the sudden disruption. No injuries were reported.
A student who asked that his name be withheld said the police had arrested the two students for a “mere walk to Parliament and they were treated as if they’re criminals because they’re students from poor backgrounds”.
“Today (yesterday) we went to the Department of Higher Education.
‘‘We met with the chief director to tell him that our institution was still under maladministration and they must launch a forensic investigation into our institution…
‘‘This is because they cannot get a true reflection of what is happening on the ground from the management because the aim of the executive is to protect their jobs,” said the student.
The disciplinary hearing of the four suspended students, meanwhile, was postponed till next week.
Students and workers have been demanding the lifting of the suspensions of the four students (Ayakha Magxothwa, Sivuyise Nolusu, Neo Mongale and Lukhanyo Vanqa) and the clarification of the in-sourced worker contracts.
The four student activists were suspended after being charged with disrupting an executive committee council meeting, verbally abusing members and threatening violence at the university’s Bellville campus.
During that meeting, they allegedly said: “We will close this door” and “die poppe sal dans (the dolls will dance)”.
This was contained in a complainant form that was submitted to the university’s judicial affairs office by the acting vice-chancellor, Chris Nhlapo.
It’s alleged the students stormed the meeting with about 50 others, surrounding council members.
They were treated like criminals because they’re poor