Karabo Matloga, Wits student. Wits University suspends five students following violent protest. Picture: Timothy Bernard/ African News Agency (ANA)
The University of the Witwatersrand has suspended five students after violent protests both on campus and on the streets of Braamfontein on Thursday afternoon.
Students interrupted lectures as their protest over financial exclusion and lack of accommodation went into its second day.
They are expected to protest on Friday again.
Students took the protest to the streets of Braamfontein on Thursday, where shops were looted, streets blocked and property damaged.
"... we also issued multiple suspension orders to disruptors who transgressed the university’s rules. The Legal Office will continue to work through the evidence submitted by the Wits community to ensure that perpetrators who can be identified, are charged.
"During the course of the suspension processes and other investigations, we found that some of the perpetrators who were committing infractions were academically excluded. Some had failed multiple times, had lost their funding, and were now demanding to be registered," Wits University spokesperson Shirona Patel said in a statement.
The university said it has reached out to the Students' Representative Council (SRC), but they have declined to engage at this stage.
"We will continue these efforts through the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs."
Patel said all university activities would continue as scheduled on Friday.
"We are also asking lecturers and academics to make up for any time lost today, and to upload relevant material to ulwazi.
"We know that this disruption is frustrating and that it impacts on members of the university community. We are managing the situation and we thank you for your patience and co-operation."
The students are demanding that all students owing R150 000 or less should be allowed to register for the 2023 academic year;
The R10 000 upfront fee to secure residence placement be wavered, and for the students to be allowed to move in.
The university must allocate an additional R30 million towards an accommodation fund in order to secure more beds for homeless students.
The NSFAS R45 000 cap for residences should be scrapped with immediate effect, and all students who are recipients of the Hardship Fund should be allowed to register and not pay the residual amount, the students are demanding.
IOL
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