- Protesting UCT students called for the reinstatement of former vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng.
- This was during intermittent confrontations with police who were blocking entrances to some of the campus buildings.
- The protesters were aghast at the presence of police on campus, but UCT said it was in line with an interdict to prevent unlawful activity.
Protesting University of Cape Town (UCT) students chanted for the reinstatement of former vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, who retired early amid accusations of bullying, which she denied.
Students demanding that acting vice-chancellor Sue Harrison leave, shouted, “Sue must fall” and “Sue must go”, at a mass meeting on Friday after a dramatic morning involving stun grenades and arrests.
They also announced an alliance with the Democratic Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union (Detawu) and received a pledge of support from the Congress of SA Trade Unions.
The protesters said they were pushing for the admission of more than 7 000 students who could not register because they were in arrears with fees.
The university said it was doing its best to resolve these issues, but insisted that outstanding fees could not keep mounting without a payment plan.
READ | ‘Proposal not supported’: UCT says it won’t scrap student fee blocks
“We will not stand for this position of council,” said Imaad Abrahams, the undergraduate academics co-ordinator for the UCT SRC, to a large group of protesters.
On the sidelines of the protest, Abrahams told News24: “The current protests is not only about fee blocks, but [to protest against] the interdict which students have been served with, and the police being called on our campus which is supposed to be our home.
“The first thing that this management has decided to do following Mamokgethi [Phakeng] is to call police on students, affecting our political expression,” he added.
According to Abrahams, a number of students were injured following the protests on Middle Campus on Friday morning.
Detawu member Athabile Nonxuba, who condemned Phakeng’s removal and Harrison’s appointment, complained about the presence of police on campus.
“Police haven’t been on campus for five years during Phakeng’s term. We have a strong intolerance of police on campus,” he said.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the university was committed to resolving issues, but would not tolerate unlawful activities on campus.
READ | High Court grants UCT interdict against protesting students who disrupt, incite violence
He said protesters disrupted lectures at a number of venues, including the New Lecture Theatre on Upper Campus and the Kramer Building on Middle Campus and Public Order Policing officers (POPs) intervened in terms of an interdict issued to the university.
“UCT states that no instruction was issued by any university official, and POPs carried out their response to unlawful acts within the parameters of the interdict.
“The university understands that a few arrests were made for unlawful protest action in violation of the court order. UCT also understands that, in response to missiles being thrown, POPs responded in accordance with their standard operation procedures in order to disperse students,” Moholola said.
What UCT says:
Lifted the fee block threshold from R1 000 to R10 000 for South African students, which allowed just over 3 400 students to register.
Almost 250 students’ financial aid appeals succeeded.
For 2022, data shows that, overall, at least R1.9 billion (unaudited) was spent in providing financial aid support to UCT students. This amount is an increase of R100 million compared to 2021. UCT budgeted R355 million for student financial aid in 2023.
Just over 400 students have had successful grace period applications, enabling them to make arrangements to settle their outstanding debt within a reasonable period. Of these, 260 students made payments and are now registered.
These measures enabled approximately 4 100 additional students who started out with fee blocks to register for the 2023 academic year.
The university is aware of about 1 059 academically eligible students who are yet to register due to fee blocks.
The university’s cumulative historic student debt currently stands at over R385 million with more than half of this amount for 2022 fees.
The “fee block” policy enables UCT to remain financially secure.
UCT does not want fee debt to grow year-on-year and does not “lend” recklessly as a result of fee payments not being made.
Tuition fees are the biggest source of income for UCT, followed by government subsidies, which have declined.
Earlier, police said they arrested two people from a group gathered at the Kramer Building when some started throwing objects at them. The students were taken to the Rondebosch police station.
Protesters also partially blocked Rhodes Drive, a public road near campus, forcing cars to turn around.
The students participating in the protest vowed to continue in spite of the interdict on 17 February by the Western Cape High Court barring further violence or disruption.
Protests flared up again on Thursday night as the university’s executive and the SRC tussled over a proposal tabled during a council meeting on Monday night for the university to lift the fee blocks as a blanket concession.
Moholola confirmed that the university did not agree to a blanket lifting of the fee blocks.
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