Wits declares it will not be held to ransom by disrupters
A protest that started as a hunger strike at Witwatersrand University on Tuesday became a campus shutdown yesterday as stones and stun grenades flew between students and security personnel.
Wits management’s delays in responding to registration and accommodation woes had frustrated the student protesters – and their rage boiled over yesterday.
The university threatened to suspend and take legal action against students involved in trying to “destabilise” the university.
Yesterday, about 50 masked protesters reportedly blocked two of the institution’s main entrances and attempted to disrupt all lectures on one campus.
This led to students throwing stones and the police reportedly firing stun grenades.
The university sent out a statement that read: “We are of the view that these individuals do not have the interests of our students at heart.
“Their aim is to disrupt learning and to hold higher education institutions to ransom in order to advance their own political agenda.
“Their agenda has nothing to do with free education, but is rather a deliberate attempt to destabilise our university.
“We need to expose these persons who are today on our campus trying to disrupt lectures and to shut down our campuses.
“We need to expose them, suspend them if they are students and have them arrested if they are threatening people, infringing on the rights of others to learn and work and damaging property.”
Despite the rain yesterday afternoon, the protesting students continued to sing struggle songs at the top of their lungs outside Solomon Mahlangu House on the campus as they waited for management to respond to their demands.
The university said it was still open to negotiations with the students and would be working on their security plans, which would include the institution’s security staff, private security guards and the South African Police Service, to ensure that academic programmes continued as planned.
The statement added: “Forgive us if there are minor disruptions or delays – we cannot be held to ransom by a few selfish individuals.”