Sudden debt write-off would ‘sink’ UWC

VIOLENT riots at the University of the Western Cape resulted in R10-million damage to property this week as 16 students were arrested and provincial ANC heavyweights tried to restore peace on campus.

The unrest in a campaign to make universities more affordable included victimisation, the use of live ammunition, stun grenades and riot gear by the police. There were explosions on campus and looting.

Trouble spread to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on Friday and 27 students were arrested for public violence.

CPUT had agreed earlier to write off debt by 5 000 poor students to the value of R111-million, but students wanted all debt cleared.

Andile Lili, leader of Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement, was at CPUT on Friday. He said he had encountered students who concealed their faces and called themselves Boko Haram, hurling petrol bombs. “I don’t understand why students at CPUT were violent . . . The council agreed to scrap all [student] debt . . . I advised [South African Students Congress] members at CPUT that it is okay to hit your comrades when they are disruptive.”

Jabu Mfusi, ANC spokesman for the Western Cape, said party representatives visited the UWC campus to “broker peace between students and management”.

Sabelo Skenjana from UWC’s Fees Will Fall movement cited protesting against the militarisation of the campus as a reason behind disrupting exams.

UWC rector Professor Tyrone Pretorius said an agreement had been reached with the movement and that many demands had been met. The movement subsequently denied signing an agreement, claiming they had only signed a meeting record.

They wanted the immediate cancellation of R270-million of historical debt. But writing off that money overnight would “sink the university”, said Pretorius. “It has become clear, based on their demands and just how difficult it is to meet those shifting demands, that a dangerous situation is being created,” he said.