Registration stalls as WSU students eject staff

STUDENTS at Walter Sisulu Unive Ibika campus in Butterworth yesterday halted registration after they forcibly removed staff from the premises.

Earlier in the day the students had held a mass meeting where they resolved to evict staff from campus.

According to a lecturer at the university, students told them to vacate their work stations or face the consequences. The Sasco-led students representative council is demanding that all students up to B Tech level be registered for free by the university.

WSU campus SRC president Zubenathi Sopasi said they had evicted staff from campus following a student meeting held yesterday afternoon.

Sopasi said their list of demands centred on the registration of all students for free.

“We demand the registration of students in all categories. The registration of certain students would divide us,” he said.

WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo confirmed the closure of the campus.

“At the moment only Butterworth registration is at a standstill. We are aware that the Butterworth SRC called a mass meeting last night [Monday] and resolved to disrupt today’s registration process.”

Tukwayo further said that the SRC had not tabled their concerns with them and instead threatened with violence.

“During a meeting with the SRC this morning, an armed faction of Sasco disrupted the meeting and forced the meeting to adjourn before the student issues could be tabled and resolved,” she said.

The SRC was locked in another meeting with the university’s management at the time of writing.

Speaking before the meeting that was to be held off campus Sopasi said they would also raise the issue of water and sanitation at the campus as it had affected them badly last year.

“We want solutions to these problems. Even if it’s a temporary one till we can find a long-term solution,” he said.

Tukwayo said they did not know when the university would reopen.

“Management will continue to try and sit with student leaders again to discuss their grievances,” she said.

Last week students at the unive Potsdam campus kicked staff off the site. The students’ demands also related to finances.

In the same week another group of protesting students at the institution set fire to a building.

Students at the WSU’s Nelson Mandela Drive campus also destroyed a building with petrol bombs.