Four Wits students arrested after disrupting lecture

Four Wits University students have been arrested for contravening a court interdict by causing disruptions to the academic programme.

Wits acquired the interdict from the Gauteng High Court in April 2016 during #FeesMustFall protests to stop protesters from damaging university property and engaging in unlawful behaviour. This saw the likes of Mcebo Dlamini and a number of students arrested last year.

On Monday about 150 students protested at the university’s campus‚ demanding better accommodation conditions. The students stormed into a lecture room at the Parktown campus where they disrupted a lesson and they attempted to block the entrances to the campus.

The first student was arrested and suspended on Monday and taken to Hillbrow Police station. Three others were nabbed on Tuesday when they tried to continue with the protest action.

The university said students who broke the rules‚ violated the rights of others or disrupted any university activities in any way‚ would be suspended immediately‚ in line with the institution’s protocols‚ policies and procedures.

Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel said after receiving a memorandum of demands from students‚ representatives from the Senior Executive Team attended a meeting with the Education Students Council on Monday to discuss management’s responses to the demands.

But unfortunately‚ the student representatives refused to explore the significant issues raised in the memorandum and “instead insisted that the management representative’s address all protesting students and the talks broke down”‚ Patel said.

She said management representatives were not willing to address all students as they had tried this approach in the previous week but were threatened‚ insulted and publicly humiliated. In communication to the student body‚ management said they found it concerning that student protests were emerging without issues first being raised through formal structures.

“Some of these actions are being used to destabilise the academic programme‚ advance the politics of spectacle‚ direct abuse towards others‚ and violate the rights of others by‚ for example‚ blocking entrances to campuses.”

Patel said the academic programme was resuming after Monday’s scuffles but with a heavy security presence.

Management has agreed to address all students at a mutually agreeable time later this week.

The SRC was not available for comment.

TMG Digital/BusinessLIVE