#FeesMustFall activist might receive his diploma in a coffee shop

As more than 5000 Cape Peninsula University of Technology graduates are capped this week, a former student leader might receive his qualification in a coffee shop or a nearby park.

Ayakha Magxothwa, 22, will graduate with a national diploma in public management on Wednesday. But he is banned from the university following his expulsion in October for allegedly torching a student shuttle during the #FeesMustFall protests.

Magxothwa, who is facing criminal charges including arson, has accused the university of robbing him and his family of an "important" moment in his life.

The former Cape Town campus student representative council chairman even asked the institution, through his lawyers, to allow him to be capped under police escort.

"Please note that in the African culture, graduation ceremonies are valuable to the community, its people and family," his lawyer, Busisiwe Mthamzeli, wrote to the university's lawyers last week.

Magxothwa told The Times yesterday that he felt victimised. "I deserve to wear that gown and take pictures as I graduate.

"I am my mother's first son who would be walking on that stage. It would be so great for me. I would be doing it for my family and the students I was leading.

"I am supposed to meet them somewhere so that they can give me my qualification. It could be in a park, around the corner from school, it could be in a coffee shop but definitely not the school grounds. I am very disappointed," he added.

Lawyer Jeannette Vlok said the university had a "duty to ensure the safety of its staff members and students in general as well as at any of its functions or ceremonies". And, therefore, Magxothwa had been denied access to the graduation ceremony.

University spokesman Lauren Kansley said a concession had been made, allowing Magxothwa to graduate in absentia.

"Magxothwa faces strict bail conditions which means that he is not allowed to participate in any official CPUT [university] event or be on any CPUT property," she said.

"[He] has benefited considerably from the goodwill of the institution in the past when all pending internal charges against him were dropped, so to allege that the institution is maliciously sidelining him is simply untrue."