Durban - Poor leadership at student level and the rise of "populist non-intellectuals" is to blame for the violent protests that have engulfed the University of KwaZulu-Natal, causing damage running to millions of rands.
That is the view of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal which has intervened in an attempt to halt the crisis.
The party's provincial leadership, led by Speaker Lydia Johnson and the party's provincial spokesman, Mdumiseni Ntuli, held a meeting with the student leadership on Thursday.
"The demand by the students to sit on the (institution's) executive and that fees must fall overnight shows the decline of the quality of leadership at the university level," said Ntuli, speaking to The Mercury on Thursday.
"Even on issues such as negotiations, they do not understand that negotiations are give and take, they think they must take all that is on the table."
He said because of the "lack of quality, radical and rational leadership", there had been a rise in populist leaders.
"They are failing to contextualise issues, if you look at what is happening. The burning of the libraries, those are non-intellectual acts. Intellectuals will protect a place where knowledge is kept. You need knowledge, even to sustain that struggle," he said.
Senzo Ngidi, the president of the central SRC at UKZN, rejected Ntuli's assertions.
He said most of the property that was damaged, including the library, was under guard and therefore they could not be blamed for it.
"When most of the damage happened, most members of the SRC were in jail. They cannot blame us for this. They need to differentiate between students and the criminal elements," he said.
"We are not saying that the burning of things is good, but whenever there are protests there are burning of things and we always see people marching against the ANC. Does that mean the ANC leadership is not good?"
He said the student leaders were ANC members and they believed in the party's principles.
Ntuli said the behaviour and vandalism was diluting the students' struggle in the eyes of the public, whose support they needed.
"Another issue we learnt from the students was that there are people who are not students who are staying on campus.
"When you (as a student) attend a lecture, the friend stays in your room, they need something to occupy themselves with. If there is chaos they will sustain that chaos and release their energy," he said.
"Some students believe that their legitimate cause has been hijacked," Ntuli continued.
He said the ANC would be working to improve the quality of leadership at universities.
The Mercury