Student stabbed to death at Eastern Cape university residence

A third-year human resource management student was fatally stabbed during an altercation with a fellow student at a Walter Sisulu University (WSU) residence on Monday night.

The suspect, a third-year mechanical engineering student, helped rush the stabbed man to hospital, said the police.

WSU said the murder occurred in Southernwood, East London.

Police spokesperson Capt Hazel Mqala said the 24-year-old student was cleaning his room just after 8pm.

“Another student walked past and made a comment about him using muthi to wash his room and he didn’t like the comment.

“The two students started to argue and fight. Other students managed to separate them and the student who is now deceased went back to his room.”

He was followed by the other student, said Mqala.

“According to witnesses, when the suspect was at the door of the deceased’s room, he was holding a knife. The deceased picked up a pair of scissors to defend himself. The two continued arguing inside the room until the deceased turned his back to the suspect.”

This was when the suspect, 29, allegedly stabbed him twice in the upper body.

“The suspect took the deceased to hospital with the help of someone staying at the residence. He was certified dead at the hospital and the suspect was treated for minor injuries,” Mqala said. 

The student was arrested at the hospital. He is facing a charge of murder and will appear in the East London magistrate’s court on Wednesday.

The university said the suspect is from Cambridge and the deceased student from Duncan Village. Its student affairs unit was with his family in hospital “until his untimely passing”.

WSU has arranged group and individual counselling sessions for other students in the residence.

Vice-chancellor Prof Rushiella Songca said the shocking incident had alerted the university to the need to institute more programmes that encourage social cohesion. She called for social tolerance within the university community, especially among students. 

“We come from different cultures, different belief systems and different family set-ups. We must be tolerant of such differences.”

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