Varsity fined for evicting students

The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and its deputy registrar of legal services have been fined R30 000 each for ignoring a court order against the illegal eviction of students from university residences four years ago.

Judge Nomsa Khumalo in the High Court in Pretoria found the university and senior executive Vusi Mgwenya guilty of contempt of court before issuing the fines.

The judge also ordered Mgwenya to serve six months in jail if he fails to pay the fine and to pay the costs of the application on a punitive scale.

The president of TUT’s student representative council, Mboseni Dladla, charged the university and its top management with contempt of court after the university ignored an urgent court order in February 2014 declaring the eviction of students from residences unlawful, and ordering the university to immediately allow all students back into the residences.

The campus was shut down and the university issued an overnight notice directing students to immediately vacate their rooms, after violent riots and protests in March 2014.

Finding themselves homeless on a rainy day, the students obtained an urgent court order the next day, declaring their evictions unlawful. TUT management refused to comply with the order served on them that afternoon and only allowed the students back into residence two days later.

Judge Khumalo said it appeared that Mgwenya had been oblivious that TUT’s eviction of the students without a court order had been unlawful.