INLSA
FILE PICTURE: Students at the Mangosuthu University of Technology continued their violent protests yesterday. The students were striking over fees. Picture: Sbonelo Ngcobo
Student protests which started at the Mangosuthu University of Technology in Umlazi last Friday have spread and intensified at other tertiary education campuses in KwaZulu-Natal.
Yesterday, at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), six people were arrested for public violence after three vehicles were damaged, while the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Westville campus became the latest site of mass action.
Accommodation and financial aid remain the primary grievances.
Despite DUT’s high court interdict prohibiting protests, and a continued police presence, the institution confirmed that lectures had been disrupted at the Steve Biko, ML Sultan and Ritson Road campuses. However, the academic programme had not been suspended.
According to DUT spokesman Alan Khan, the protests were not being driven by the students representative council, but rather by the SA Students’ Congress (Sasco).
Sasco provincial chairman Mfanafuthi Ngobo confirmed this.
Khan said that DUT management would only negotiate with the SRC, “and not entertain individual clubs and societies. We have reiterated the need for the police to enforce the court interdict to protect our students and staff,” he said.
At Mangosuthu, after compromising on matters such as the cost of student transport and financial exclusions, accommodation remained a sticking point. Yesterday, tyres were burnt and chairs broken at the university, spokeswoman Mbali Mkhize said.
SRC president Sifiso Mvuyane said the protests would only be halted once housing was provided for at least 500 students at the Lonsdale Hotel in Pixley KaSeme (West) Street.
At UKZN, a crowd of 100 to 200 students chanted as they converged on university buildings, but protested peacefully under the eyes of campus security and police. University spokeswoman Nomonde Mbadi advised students to contact faculties for information on the rescheduling of lectures.
