Protesters heed call to make it ‘messy’

STRIKING university general workers in Pretoria yesterday heeded a call by their leaders to “make the situation messy” by storming into both the University of Pretoria and Unisa and disrupting student registration.

But at Tuks, the workers were met with trigger-happy police officers and soon found themselves stumbling on the tarmac on the wrong end of stun grenades that had been fired at them.

Hundreds of workers, under the banner of the #OutsourcingMustFall campaign, had marched into the campus entrance on the corner of Festival and Prospect streets.

Police acted swiftly and used stun grenades to force them off the university’s property. Three workers sustained minor injuries on the head and back, while some of their comrades were arrested.

The workers, some of whom had staged a night vigil outside the campus, continued to sing while on the run after police had fired stun grenades.

University spokeswoman Anna-Retha Bouwer said management took a decision to shut the campus because of the unrest.

Police at the main gate told students to go home as the situation at the campus was tense.

Bouwer couldn’t say whether the university would be operating today, as it was impossible to tell how the situation would develop further.

Tuks students had been advised to register online, she said.

The mass action started on Monday when outsourced workers shut down the Unisa campus, demanding permanent employment. It continued at the university yesterday when the striking workers first derailed the registration process at the Sunnyside campus before instructing administrative workers to stop working.

By late morning, the strikers congregated at Burgers Park in the city centre to listen to leaders of the campaign, who told them to make “the situation messy” as the strike entered its second day.

From there, the workers headed to Unisa, where they threatened staffers to vacate their offices or face undesirable consequences.

Police kept watch on the situation as Unisa staff members left the campus.

The strikers hoisted placards bearing messages expressing their demand to be hired directly by the universities and be paid R10 000. General workers are employed by private companies hired by both universities.

Having succeeded in forcing Unisa staff to leave their work stations, the strikers proceeded to Tuks.

Their leader, Mametlwe Sebei, said the #OutsourcingMustFall campaign was started late last year and made up of security guards and cleaners who were demanding the abolition of outsourcing to private companies.

“We want an immediate end to outsourcing and for general workers, who include cleaners and security, to be hired directly by the university. We are demanding that the minimum wage of workers must not be anything less than R10 000,” Sebei said.

Unisa spokesman Martin Ramotshela reiterated the university’s stance that a task team led by Dr Somadoda Fikeni had been appointed to look into the issues raised by the workers.

“The bottom line is that we will conclude the process within six months. Anyone suggesting that there is no progress is being economical with the truth,” Ramotshela said. He added that the registration process was only disturbed at the Sunnyside campus and was progressing smoothly at other Unisa centres across the country.

Ramotshela advised students to make use of the online registration portal. Those who arrived earlier at the campus were able to register, but students who were outside the gate when the protesters arrived could not, he said.