Bloemfontein – Several hundred people, mainly staff, protested at the main entrance of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on Tuesday morning, demanding higher wages and an end to the outsourcing of security, gardening and cleaning services on campus.
University authorities had earlier announced that the main and south campuses of the UFS would be closed and all academic classes suspended for the next two days in the wake of similar protest actions and class disruptions on Monday.
“The safety of staff and students is the priority of the senior leadership and this is why a decision was made to close the two campuses,” said the UFS management in a statement. “No academic or administrative services will be available for the two days.”
On Monday, about 30 people were arrested during the strike by outsourced workers supported by a number of students.
On Monday night, striking workers and students also disrupted a Varsity Cup rugby match between the Shimlas (UFS) and the Madibaz (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). In the 17th minute of the match a group of protesters moved onto the field. The rugby players of both teams and match officials immediately cleared the field before the advancing protesters.
Varsity Cup: protesters, supporters clash
A few minutes later spectators ran onto the field and started attacking and chasing away the protesters. Video clips of clashes between protestors and spectators have been circulating on social media since Monday night, sparking comments of racial bias.
University management has condemned the violence against protesters, saying that nobody had the right to take the law into their own hands.
“An urgent investigation is underway, using footage from the event, and no stone will be left unturned to identify those who acted violently, whether students or not,” read a statement on the official UFS Facebook page.
mayivalwe iUFS RT @tiro_sourworms: UFS today......Shimla Park pic.twitter.com/49G7ji0vfA
— Kabelo Tsatsimpe (@KabiTsatsi) February 22, 2016
But UFS vice chancellor Jonathan Jansen came under fire on Twitter with some calling for him to quit.
“For years, Jansen has been given platform to condescend and victim blame Black people, while UFS remained hell for Black kids. This country,” @GugsM tweeted.
@SiweBhengu tweeted: “Jonathan Jansen is responsible for what is happening at #UFS because he told them it was ok to continue to treat us like trash.”
A spokesperson for the General and Industrial Workers Union (GIWU), representing the striking workers, said on Monday that they appreciated the students’ support of their cause, as a number of students again picketed with them at the university gates on Tuesday morning.
He warned, however, that “certain political elements” were misusing their protest action to advance their own agendas.
Prof Jansen claiming the the #UFS attacks weren't racially motivated isn't just delusional. Its deeply irresponsible.
— Dan Corder (@DanCorderDJ) February 23, 2016
“We have seen people handing out ANC T-shirts and also some people in EFF colours joining our protest action. We are cautioning people not to abuse the plight of vulnerable workers in order to further party political agendas ahead of the local government elections,” said Clarence Debeila, union organiser of GIWU.
He said the striking workers would continue their protest actions until the university management responded to a memorandum submitted last year, in which they ask for an end to the outsourcing of supporting services, that cases against striking workers and students be withdrawn, and that Afrikaans as a medium of instruction be abolished at the UFS.
African News Agency