Johannesburg – A number of students arrived Tuesday morning at Witwatersrand University with the hope of registering, but came face to face with a heavy security presence on campus.
Registration was suspended on Monday after the resumption of the #FeesMustFall campaign disrupted the process.
On Tuesday security at the gate were only permitting students who are writing supplementary exams and university staff.
Workers at the campus said they had also been instructed by university management to block students from entering the premises.
Students said on social media that security guards dressed in black had “blocked a men’s hostel on campus”.
According to tweets and pictures on Twitter, students got into a altercation with guards after they say they were forcibly removed from the university’s Solomon House residence at around 6am on Tuesday morning.
Wits students had been occupying the building as part of the #FeesMustFall2016 campaign.
On Tuesday talks between the Student Representative Council and management were said be under way. The demands student leaders will table in the meeting include: the implementation of free education, registration fee waiver for students and the scrapping of past debt for graduating students.
On Monday, Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel said registration would resume on Wednesday after students held a protest at the registration venue.
The university is also allowing students to register online or telephonically.
Meanwhile, vice chancellors from 26 universities in South Africa issued a statement through the University of Pretoria’s website late on Monday saying: “We, the vice chancellors representing 26 universities in South Africa, remain committed to widening of student access to university study and to the transformation of our universities consistent with the founding provisions of the Constitution.”
The statement reiterated support for access of quality education and called for financial provision for academically deserving students.
“We call on all actors in society, the state, the private sector, individuals, civil society and others-to prioritise the funding of higher education with urgency,” the vice chancellors said in their statement.
African News Agency