Student protests met with stun grenades at Nelson Mandela University

18 April 2019 - 07:14 By HENDRICK MPHANDE
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Police let off stun grenades at NMU to disperse protesting students.
Police let off stun grenades at NMU to disperse protesting students.
Image: HeraldLIVE/Eugene Coetzee

Police set off stun grenades after students barricaded entrances to Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela University on Wednesday, in contravention of an interdict.

This came less than a month after NMU management and students came to a tacit agreement to resolve issues around registration, funding and accommodation.

Hundreds of students gathered to again voice their concerns on Wednesday.

However, unlike March’s protest, Wednesday’s action, on the university’s north and south campuses, saw no resolution between the two parties.

The management said the university had been working to restore normal academic and other operations following Wednesday’s disruption.

The students said police, who used stun grenades to break up the protest, were brutalising them.

In March, the university said it had set up a “clearing house”, comprising the student representative council, finance department, student affairs, academic administration and student counselling, which would deal with students’ issues on an individual basis.

But NMU student representative council president Bamanye Matiwane said grievances included student accommodation, among other issues.

Matiwane said students would not accept a situation where several of them were without accommodation, while the university had free beds.

University spokesperson Zandile Mbabela said police had been called in as the students had violated an interdict the institution had successfully applied for in June 2018.

HeraldLIVE


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