VUT orders students to leave

VAAL University of Technology (VUT) students were left stranded yesterday after the institution instructed them to vacate their residences following the #FeesMustFall protests.

VUT management announced on Monday that classes had been suspended and that the institution would reopen on October 10. It also said students needed to vacate all residences by 4pm.

Students allege that they were not given enough time to gather their belongings and leave as they received the communique at around 1pm.

The university has refuted this claim, saying that it gave them sufficient time to leave the residences as it sent out the communication at 11am.

Students also claimed they were beaten by bouncers.

“At around 5pm bouncers came into our rooms and started beating us up and told us to leave. We didn’t even have the chance to take our belongings,” a student from Mpumalanga told Sowetan.

He said he was stranded outside the campus until midnight when a friend came to fetch him and gave him a place to sleep.

Another student said about 15 students – one of whom was pregnant – were injured in a scuffle with bouncers.

Student Representative Council (SRC) president Troy Mathebula said they tried to accommodate students at private residences as they feared for their safety.

“I mean, some students were only dressed in their nightgowns when they were chased out and we find it unacceptable,” he said.

VUT spokesman Mike Khuboni said: “The university did consider that most of our students come from afar but had no alternative but to protect the lives of non-protesting students and staff.”

Mathebula said the SRC would try to get a court interdict to force the university to at least give students 48 hours to vacate the residences.