Johannesburg - There are fears that come Monday (3 October) students and academics who voted for academic activities to resume will be intimidated or threatened.
This follows results of an anonymous poll run by the university on Thursday which sought to establish the views of students on whether the university should reopen.
On Friday 77% of students indicated they would like to return to class on Monday while 23% voted against this.
But the university has vowed to tighten security.
“If we do open on Monday there will be a heavy police presence as well as security presence. This is not something Wits is conformable with. However we believe there should be space for freedom of movement and freedom of speech but this should not infringe on other people's right to education,” Patel said.
She added vice chancellor Adam Habib has placed three conditions on the security at the university.
“The chancellor said he would withdraw police and security provided there is no violation of the rights of others, no intimidation or destruction of property. Anyone who breaks these conditions will be suspended immediately and the university's disciplinary processes will kick in immediately.”
According to Patel, 36 000 SMS were sent out to students as part of the voting process which was verified by auditing firm Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo. However, some students indicated they did not receive the text messages.
Patel said factors which could have contributed to this was that some students' cellphones were switched off while others did not enter the correct data onto the system.
“The text messages were sent out to students from the SMS centre. We are still looking into the process but these SMSes were verified from there,” she said.
Reacting to the poll results, the Wits' student representative council said regardless of 70% of students seeking to go back to class, they do not recognise the poll and described it as mere “opinion.”
SRC member Mzwanele Ntshwanti said: “We represent the interests of all students. While we don't recognise the poll, we are not saying the voices of students don't matter, we are saying that the voices of the marginalised mist also be heard.”
It was also an intense week at the university with several student protests and property being destroyed including the death of a male cleaner on campus. Celumusa Ntuli died from an asthma attack after students released a fire extinguisher in Jubilee Hall.
Academics at the institution on Thursday converged outside the Wits Great Hall to show solidary with the students calling for free education.
A final decision on whether the university will be opened will be announced on Sunday.
* Read more in this weekend’s Saturday Star.
Saturday Star