Johannesburg - Four protesters were arrested during the students’ national shutdown march in Johannesburg on Monday.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said the arrested four would be charged with public violence.
Naidoo could not however confirm the alleged shooting in the leg by the police of a student protester. Joburg metro police spokesperson Xolani Fihla could also not confirm the shooting.
In an SABC news clip on Monday afternoon, an unidentified student protester showed reporters a gunshot wound in the right upper thigh.
Business and law enforcement officers had a difficult time in Johannesburg as protesters created havoc throughout the day after they heeded the call for a national shutdown over tertiary education funding issues.
Despite the fact that online learning was under way, a group of students and the Student Representative Councils (SRC) from Wits University and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) were still protesting about financial exclusion, student debt and registrations at universities.
The SA Union of Students (Saus) and the SA Students Congress called for a national shutdown of all 26 public universities as of Monday.
In response to Saus’ letter of about 15 demands, Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande said that they were not in a financial position to be able to support institutions to clear all student debt of fee-paying students.
“We are aware that there are many students whose families struggle to keep up with fee payments, and indeed many families who have also been negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, given the difficult fiscal situation, all government departments, including the Department of Higher Education and Training, have been subject to budget reductions in 2020 and 2021,” the minister said.
Nzimande added that fee consultations took place at institutional level and that all institutions relied on student fees for their core operating income.
“Additional funding is not available from the government to support a zero percent fee increase. Institutions have to remain financially sustainable in order to meet their operational commitments and their academic responsibilities,” the minister said.
To express their concerns, the Wits student protesters marched the streets of Braamfontein where they forcefully closed down a number of businesses.
The street where Mthokozisi Ntumba lost his life is seemingly becoming iconic, with students changing its name from De Beer Street to Ntumba Street.
Things got heated at some point as the protesters were rebelling against the police. Stones were thrown at a police Nyala vehicle.
However, the police remained calm as no firearms were used. Instead, water cannons were used to disperse the protesters.
Wits SRC president Mpendulo Mfeka said Braamfontein had been rendered ungovernable.
“The state of our education system in the country is not in a good condition. As SRC members of different universities, we met last night and we agreed that we will unite towards one common goal.”
Mfeka claimed that they were due to meet with the university’s vice-chancellor yesterday, and that the meeting was postponed.
However, reports coming out of the university have indicated that the SRC met with the university’s senior executive team on Friday evening.
The executive team then met again yesterday to discuss the demands of the SRC. This is set to further consult with members of council and other stakeholders, before engaging with the SRC.
A Universities South Africa meeting was held yesterday morning with the 26 vice-chancellors of public universities. However, the outcome was yet to be made public at the time of publication.
Protests continued into Monday evening, when the students from UJ and Wits joined groups near the UJ Bunting Road Campus before they proceeded to Braamfontein to clash with the police.
The Star