Fort Hare students to boycott centenary celebrations over court case
Fort Hare’s students representative council cannot be part of the university's centenary celebrations with a court case hanging over the heads of fellow students‚ says SRC member Sonwabiso Mamkeli. Twenty Fort Hare University students are charged with public violence relating to the nationwide #FeesMustFall protests. Their case has been postponed till June 21.Phakamani Gasela‚ the students’ lawyers‚ asked for the magistrate to postpone the matter pending the response to a letter written by the defence team to the director of public prosecutions.“We wrote to the director to appeal for the charges against all the 20 accused to be dropped.“We asked for the new court date to allow time for the DPP to respond.”Hundreds of Fort Hare students picketed outside the East London Magistrate’s Court‚ calling for the charges to be dropped.Mamkeli said it was unjust to prosecute the 20 while charges against students who also took part in similar protest from other South African institutions were dropped.“Our fellow comrades are busy preparing for exams with this court case hanging over their heads. It is psychologically affecting them. Already‚ others are performing badly during tests.“The government must free our fellow students so that they can focus on their studies‚” said Mamkeli...
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