University security 'thuggish'

Security guards who used pepper spray and batons to control crowds outside the Vaal University of Technology acted like thugs, a union said yesterday.

"We are calling on the university to review the contract of that security company and make sure that all those thuggish securities [sic] are nowhere near students," the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers' Union said.

The institution's spokesman, Kediemetse Mokotsi, earlier said it did not condone the guards' behaviour.

"These are new security guards that came late last year and were not aware of how to deal with such a crowd. The matter will be taken up with the relevant departments."

Students waiting to register at the university started pushing each other on Monday. Security guards used batons, pepper spray, and tasers on them, the SABC reported.

Union spokesman Sizwe Pamla said security companies were prone to "reckless conduct ... typical of what we observed and experienced during the apartheid era".

Mokotsi said the university planned to register 2000 students a day, but many came on the wrong day to register.

"[Monday] was the first day for registrations for returning students and each faculty was allocated a specific date for it, but students ignored the dates on their letters," Mokotsi said.

A woman was killed in a stampede outside the University of Johannesburg during late registrations on January 10.

Pamla said the union supported Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande's call for a central registration office, though this would not solve academic and financial exclusion.