Building, cars torched in UKZN protest
THE troubled University of KwaZuluNatal (UKZN) was plunged into further chaos yesterday after angry students torched a building and three vehicles as protests over the clearance of historical student debt moved to day four.
At UKZN’s Westville campus, students set alight a security control centre early yesterday.
Police spokesperson Jay Naicker said that at 1am, security guards saw about 600 students approaching the security offices carrying petrol bombs and stones. Naicker said the guards fled and returned a short while later to find the building engulfed in flames. A private vehicle was also torched.
Howard College campus also experienced its share of violent protests when a student’s vehicle parked inside the campus and another parked on the road outside the university were set alight.
According to Naicker, about
100 students gathered on campus and started disrupting the registration points, forcing other students to join the protest. He said the crowd grew rapidly to more than 1 000 students, who burned and overturned DSW bins as they went. “The situation was tense with slight damage to UKZN property. Four students were arrested for public violence,” said Naicker. The police also confirmed that one student was injured after he was hit by a stray rubber bullet.
The protests started after the university announced that students should pay 15% of their historical debt for them to be cleared for 2020 registration. The move evoked anger among students, who labelled the university “unreasonable” to expect National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)-funded students to afford any payment.
UKZN Student Representative Council president Sifiso Simelane said students were looking forward to hearing from management, but they would not deviate from their grievances. “This issue affects almost 70% of the students across five campuses. We are waiting to hear from management, but still, we are not going to agree on paying that 15%. Some students don’t even have food, where can they get money to pay for historical debts?” asked Simelane.
The UKZN Staff Union called for the immediate shutdown of the institution.
UKZN spokesperson Ashton Bodrick said they had heard the students’ grievances and were seeking solutions to the impasse at institutional and national level.