Students in legal bid to halt Wits poll

UNIVERSITY of the Witwatersrand (Wits) students on Wednesday said they were preparing to file an urgent interdict to stop the university from holding a referendum on the resumption of its academic programme.

Wits vice-chancellor Adam Habib intends polling the students on Thursday via SMS to see if there is an appetite for returning to school.

Former Wits Student Representative Council president Mcebo Dlamini said the university’s statutes did not make provision for the vice-chancellor to conduct such a poll.

“We are not against any form of deliberation … but we are saying the rightful processes must be followed,” he said.

The students wanted a student assembly to deliberate rather than voting via phone.

“This is not a shebeen or a tavern where, as a vicechancellor, you just wake up and decide people must vote,” said Dlamini, adding that he was part of the group working on filing the court interdict.

Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel said its lawyers had received a letter informing them of a possible interdict. She said the university would hold the poll as planned on Thursday.

In the past two weeks, several universities have suspended their academic programmes as protests swept the country.

The protests came on the back of an announcement by Higher Education Minister

Blade Nzimande that universities determine their own fee increases. These increases should be capped at 8%.

At the University of Cape Town (UCT), the vicechancellor Max Price pleaded on Thursday with students to stop violent protests so that lectures would resume.

“The message I want to send out to protesting students is that don’t sacrifice your futures, the future of the country and the future of higher education over these short-term and specific issues. We need to address those in a parallel process,” Price said at a briefing. He added that he had been meeting with staff, students and the Student Representative Council to find a way university for activities to resume.

UCT’s academic programme should be back on schedule, but Price reportedly said further protest action in the next few weeks would result in the university reopening only next year.

University of Limpopo vice-chancellor Mahlo Mokgalong announced that the university would be shut indefinitely due to protests on campuses. Its neighbour, the University of Venda, also reportedly shut its doors following protests. At Rhodes University, police arrested students during a campus standoff, with witnesses saying they heard shots being fired.

The University of Johannesburg was continuing its academic programme, but vice-chancellor Ihron Rensburg said a “minority” of students were attempting to disrupt the university.

The University of the Free State said it would remain closed until October 7.