Arrested during #FeesMustFall protests on the UCT campus in 2016, Masixole Mlandu has been ordered to perform 150 hours of community service and attend counselling as part of a diversion programme.
Mlandu, a facilitator at Equal Education and a political science graduate studying towards an Honours degree, faced four charges relating to an alleged incident at the office of the university's security manager on October 12, 2016. The charges included malicious damage to property, public violence, contempt of court and contravention of the Intimidation Act.
"The director of public prosecutions decided that on humanitarian grounds," Wynberg Regional Court prosecutor Rajen Pillay said on Wednesday, News 24 reported.
An agreement was brokered with the help of his lawyer, Lufuno Musetsho.
Mlandu was assessed by a social worker and found to be a candidate for one of the community service programmes at the SA National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (Nicro).
He had petitioned the National Prosecuting Authority to have the case dropped but was unsuccessful.
In terms of the diversion programme, he must attend counselling to assess his "learning from the process" and to develop positive coping mechanisms.
These will be free and facilitated by Nicro's Clinical Unit. His 150 "community service learning hours" are also expected to be arranged by the clinical unit.
"Community service learning is aimed at providing the accused with the opportunity to serve the community which he has wronged by performing voluntary work," the social worker explained in a report.