Varsity slammed as students face hearings
STUDENTS and activist organisations have criticised the University of Johannesburg for backtracking on its word as three students faced disciplinary hearings yesterday for actions during the #FeesMustFall protest.
Claire Ceruti, Xhamla Songwevu and Tshoarelo Mahloko are facing charges that include inciting violence. This comes after deputy vice-chancellor Professor Tshilidzi Marwala said suspensions would be unconditionally lifted.
The statement is viewable on YouTube from a video dated November 19. “No workers, no students are going to be victimised,” he said.
Students asked if the suspensions would be unconditionally lifted. Marwala said: “Yes”.
However, written statements from the university contradict this verbal promise. In a signed document dated November 18, the university agreed to temporarily lift the suspensions, provided the students sign statements committing to follow the court order and not participate in any protest violating UJ rules. Six students were originally suspended.
According to Trevor Ngwane of the Greater Johannesburg United Front, the three facing charges refused to sign the statements. He described the letters as “a gun to their heads”; without signing, they can’t enter campus or write exams.
Herman Esterhuizen, the spokesman for UJ, confirmed the charges.
“It’s just a hearing,” he cautioned. He said the students were not currently suspended and emphasised it did not necessarily mean they would be re-suspended.
Sifat Black, an organiser of the UJ #FeesMustFall movement, said students would show up in support of their fellow students at the hearings.
“We are in a full support of the students. We commend their bravery, and we will stand by their side until student victimisation at UJ is stopped,” she said.
Ceruti, a PhD student at UJ, was in the spotlight before when she gave an impromptu speech during the protest before being arrested with the other 140 people who became known as the #Brixton141.
Songwevu made headlines as videos surfaced of UJ’s pri- vate security beating protesters. He sustained a head injury from the guards that required eight stitches, according to Ngwane. He then returned to the protest with a bandage on his head and was also part of the #Brixton141.
The disciplinary action comes a day after two UJ academics released a report about human rights violations on campus during the protest.
“Interdicts granted to the university have been misapplied to arrest students and workers engaged in peaceful protest and to attack students and workers violently when they posed no clear and present danger,” the report says.
An online petition for a public and independent investigation into the human rights violations has 104 signatures.
Ceruti didn’t respond to requests for comment yesterday.