Meeting over strife

PROTESTING Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) students met deputy vice-chancellor Anthony Staak yesterday after a spate of violence on Monday.

Spokesman Lauren Kansley said the meeting between Staak‚ students and workers followed violence at the Cape Town campus.

“There was no resolution‚ it was just to hear what the issues were about‚” she said.

Another meeting was held between a representative of the dean of students and protesting students from CPUT’s Athlone campus‚ who handed over a 20-point letter of demand.

The condition of a guard who was stabbed on Monday was unclear yesterday.

Kansley said the university had yet to quantify damage to buildings.

“One workshop was set alight on Monday. It was an industrial design workshop and had expensive equipment in it.

“The entrance to a building was also set alight.”

The protesting students were reportedly upset about the suspension of four student leaders, while workers were angry about insourcing arrangements.

Although CPUT assured students that academic activities would continue yesterday‚ one student described how he was woken up by the sound of stun grenades.

The student, who did not want to be named, said: “I was sleeping when all of a sudden I heard the loud bangs of the stun grenades that went off outside our residence. It sounded like bombs going off.

“There were students protesting early this morning and police tried to disperse the crowd. It frightens me when stun grenades go off like that without warning.”