ANC slams torching of buildings at CPUT

CAPE TOWN – The ANC has condemned in “the harshest possible terms” the torching of several buildings of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s (CPUT) campuses in Bellville and Mowbray.

“These criminal acts must be punished using the full might of our law enforcement system as they can never be a justification for any grievance anyone may have had,” ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement on Wednesday.

This after a staff room in Mowbray was torched at around 04:00 yesterday morning, and a petrol bomb thrown around 22:40 on Tuesday at the Bellville campus, significantly damaging a financial aid office.

Early last Monday morning, a petrol bomb was flung to an engineering workshop on the Cape Town campus.

The protests appear to revolve around student accommodation, unhappiness over campus security and student safety, and insourcing.

Kodwa pointed out that the Department of Higher Education and Training estimated the cost of damage to universities, as a result of protests, at approximately R459m. “This is money that would be most optimally used to fund the shortages and challenges in our higher education system rather than addressing unnecessary damages,” he said.

“Behaviour such as burning university buildings is short-sighted and devoid of any appreciation of the dire need faced by students and our institutions of higher education.

“The ANC calls upon any person with information in relation to these unlawful acts to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.”

Kodwa said the university management and the student body must close rank to expose and isolate “these agent provocateurs”, should they be within their ranks.

“All stakeholders are further called upon to redouble their efforts to find amicable and lasting solutions to disputes and the restoration of the academic programme.”

Meanwhile, calls by an organisation representing vicechancellors at South Africa’s universities to meet with the presidency and ministry of higher education over university fees for next year have fallen on deaf ears.

Universities South Africa chief executive Dr Ahmed Bawa told City Press on Friday that students on campus were anxious about whether there were prospects of fee increases next year because neither President Jacob Zuma nor Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande had made pronouncements.

This came after Zuma received a report from Judge Jonathan Heher, who presided over a commission that was set up by Zuma to investigate the feasibility of fee-free higher education.

Bawa said their organisation has repeatedly asked for a meeting but none has been called.

“There hasn’t yet been a meeting. The universities have not been able to make any progress on this matter because the deep uncertainty due to this lack of information about the contents of the Heher Commission. We have also asked repeatedly for meetings with the minister of higher education and training and the department to discuss this matter but these too have not materialised. Universities will strike up budgets based on assumptions because councils will have to approve budgets for next year before the end of this year.”

He said there was “just too much uncertainty” to have a meeting between students and university managers. — AP