Lone protester tries to shut down UCT

Fed up students confronted a lone protester trying to “shut down” the University of Cape Town on Tuesday.

A video shared on the Vernac News Twitter page showed a man‚ affiliated to protests over the outsourcing of workers‚ telling staff at the university that he and his two accomplices were “ready to die here”.

The man is reportedly a student leader well known for his “one-man shutdowns”. He had previously tried to shut down the university by blocking one of the entrances in September last year‚ according to a GroundUp article.

The protester along with two companions then managed to stop several lectures.

In a video‚ posted on social media‚ he yells at an elderly staff member: “Look at me! This university will not operate today!” But he is interrupted by another student: “There will be no shutdown today”.

The student then rushes towards the man and his partners. “Do you want to start? We can’t be held ransom by three people”.

The university responded to the incident by evacuating the library according to UCT spokesperson Elijah Mohola.

“The University of Cape Town confirms that an attempt was made on Tuesday morning by a small group of students to disrupt services in the library‚” he said.

“The university is also looking into disruptions by the same group to a small number of lectures‚” said Mohola.

By 12 pm the library was opened again and Mohola said that the UCT executive and SRC members engaged the “disrupters”.

"The protesters’ demands were centred on issues relating to workers‚ criminal charges faced by some students for previous unlawful protest action‚ issues of financial affordability for students and claims of financial exclusions‚" said Mohola.

The university will review the incident to determine whether action against the students is necessary.

On social media students expressed both admiration and rage at the protester. He was labelled a “raving idiot” and “delusional” - among other things.