Publications
Partners
What started as a peaceful candle-lit vigil turned into violent clashes between students and public order police at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Friday night.
Almost a month of relative calm was shattered by a shower of rubber bullets, pepper spray, bricks and burning tyres.
The UJ #FeesMustFall group has been demanding a meeting with their vice-chancellor, Professor Ihron Rensburg, and this week a small group of 30 people were given the chance to meet with him to discuss their demands.
The protesters, a group made up of workers and students, is calling for “insourcing” – they want workers to be hired directly by the university and not through labour brokers – and a different approach to dealing with poor students’ university debts.
A number of students have been suspended and their student cards deactivated, and workers have been interdicted. Last week, 141 people were arrested outside the university’s main entrance before being released on warnings.
On Friday evening, workers and students from universities in Johannesburg, North West and Pretoria gathered with placards and candles.
UJ student leader Anele Madonsela said they intended to take a stand against alleged police brutality on university campuses this week.
When the group arrived at the path leading up to the main gate, they were stopped by a police barricade and refused entry. This immediately agitated some in the group, who said the agreement was that they would meet peacefully at the gate.
A small group of students began arguing with police, while the rest listened to messages of support from other student bodies and nongovernmental organisations.
Later in the evening, the police dropped their guard and the group advanced towards the gate. Officers sprayed pepper spray at the crowd and, while some retreated, others remained at the gate, covering their faces with shirts and bandanas.
Police then rushed to their vehicles and retrieved their shotguns, after which they opened fire on the group with rubber bullets, sending many fleeing into the road.
After a determined group of students and workers returned, police opened fire again, pursuing students as they fled.
What followed was a violent clash in which tyres were burnt in Kingsway Avenue, bricks were thrown and the rubber bullets kept coming.
The university campus was locked down and private security guards extinguished a number of fires that had been lit around the campus.
By yesterday afternoon, no one had been arrested, but three UJ students who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation told City Press that police had searched for suspects in the suburb of Melville for some time after the clashes.
It is unclear exactly how much damage was done to university property. Spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Also on Friday, violence escalated at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology between students protesting against historical debt and public order police. Students demanding that all study debt be written off set fire to rubbish at the university’s Bellville administration building entrance as a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Some of the students became aggressive towards journalists, pelting photographers with stones and chanting “SABC must fall”. A group of male students took an ANN7 cameraman’s camera, allegedly at knife-point. The camera was returned, but without its memory sticks.
ANN7 correspondent Kevin John Brandt tweeted: “Cameraman’s camera taken from him at knife-point, camera recovered, memory cards taken out #cputshutdown.”
Police eventually used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd at around 11am.
Speaking at the college’s Mowbray campus, Cape Peninsula University of Technology first-year teaching student Lubabalo Phillips (20) wrung his hands in frustration when his exam was postponed yet again.
He said he initially supported the #FeesMustFall movement, but now wished the disruptions would stop.
Phillips said he got up early at his home in Khayelitsha to take the train so he could prepare for his exam, which was supposed to start at 2pm.
“I went to the computer lab to prepare for the examination at 8.30am already. Then I heard students screaming outside at about 9.30am. They were screaming that they don’t have money to pay for their studies. They came inside the building and told us to come out and to join the protest in Bellville, so many left,” he said.
Phillips, who was raised by his single domestic worker mother and who matriculated at Chris Hani Secondary School in Khayelitsha, said he was sad that he could not complete the studies he struggled to afford himself.
“I’m very disappointed. This is the second time my exam has been delayed. I’m left with five subjects I need to write. I don’t want to protest. I was a part of the first march, now I’m tired of it and want to write exams.”
On Wednesday afternoon at the University of the Western Cape, shattered glass and a charred piano bore testimony to violent protests there.
Postgraduate student Oslin Julinsen said: “Some of the scenes are very horrific. I’ve seen people get hurt and property being vandalised.”
