Student dies after attack on campus

Takenzi allegedly beaten up by varsity colleagues

ATHIRD-YEAR law student has died from his injuries, apparently after being severely beaten by fellow students.

Walter Sisulu University student Songezo Takenzi and an unknown man were believed to be stealing from a Walter Sisulu University residence room in Mthatha.

Takenzi, 23, who died in hospital yesterday, was the third student this year to have been killed on campus, allegedly by fellow students.

The Dispatch was yesterday given the name of a third-year education student said to have been killed two weeks ago, also over allegations of theft.

The information came from previous SRC president Sinelizwi Mantangayi yesterday, but WSU would not confirm this last night.

Department of health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said Takenzi was admitted to Mthatha General Hospital with head injuries. “He was then transferred to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital. He died in the early hours today,” he said.

WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said: “We were informed that a student was caught stealing and was confronted by other students. He was beaten badly”.

She added: “Details are still sketchy at the moment, but I have not received a report that says that the student has passed away.”

Takenzi and the unknown man were apparently caught in the act of stealing at Silimela residence on the Nelson Mandela Drive campus just after 9pm on Monday.

A student, who spoke to the Dispatch on condition of anonymity, said a student had raised the alarm when he found Takenzi and the unknown man in his room.

It turned out that this was the room Takenzi had occupied last year.

“Other students came and when the two in the room realised that they were in trouble, they got out through the third-floor window.

“One used an electrical extension cord while the other [Takenzi] jumped,” said the source.

The students then chased after Takenzi and started assaulting him.

In May, final-year medicine student Lwando Mantshontsho, 24, died in his room on the Mthatha campus after he was assaulted and stabbed by fellow students. Mantangayi said the student who died two weeks ago was attacked by students when they returned to campus after having been evicted amid campus strife.

“The students noticed that their rooms were broken in[to] and their belongings stolen. We were told they then assaulted the student with fists and he was badly injured,” Mantangayi said, adding his friends contacted his family in Centane.

“His friends travelled with him to Butterworth where they met with his family. He was then taken to hospital, but was referred to an East London hospital where he was admitted to intensive care and later died,” he said. Police spokesman LieutenantColonel Mzukisi Fatyela was out of town on another work engagement and was unable to gather all the information on the incident.

Campus life has been blighted by violence in recent months.

● Last October, the Dispatch reported that WSU students took the law into their own hands and killed two men whom they found with stolen items inside the campus. —