Police, students clash at NMU

Police set off stun grenades after students barricaded entrances to Nelson Mandela University on Wednesday in contravention of an interdict.

This came less than a month after NMU management and students came to a tacit agreement to resolve issues around registration, funding and accommodation.

Hundreds of students gathered to again voice their concerns on Wednesday.

However, unlike March’s protest, Wednesday’s action – on the university’s north and south campuses – saw no resolution between the two parties.

The management said the university had been working to restore normal academic and other operations following Wednesday’s disruption.

The students said police who used stun grenades to break up the protest were brutalising them.

In March, the university said it had set up a “clearing house” – comprising the student representative council, finance department, student affairs, academic administration and student counselling – which would deal with students’ issues on an individual case basis.

But NMU student representative council president Bamanye Matiwane said grievances included student accommodation, among other issues.

Matiwane said students would not accept a situation where several students were without accommodation while the university had free beds.

University spokesperson Zandile Mbabela said police had been called in as the students had violated an interdict the university had successfully applied for in June 2018.

“A group of students barricaded entrances to the campuses, which was deemed to be in contravention of the standing interdict,” she said.

“This resulted in a standoff with the SA Police Service, who set off stun grenades after protesting students failed to disperse once the terms of a standing interdict were read out shortly before 1pm.

“The main issue relates to some senior students who did not receive NSFAS funding as a result of not meeting nationally determined academic performance criteria.

“These students were subsequently requested to vacate offcampus accommodation.”

Mbabela said the university remained committed to inclusive stakeholder engagement.

“To this end, a policy was crafted in consultation with the SRC, which was approved by council in 2018.

“This policy formalises and guides engagement processes with students in terms of protocols and channels to be followed.

“The policy was contravened, which necessitated the enforcement of an existing interdict,” she said.

Matiwane said students would continue to protest unless university management came to the party.

“We are busy here burning tyres and the police are also present, brutalising students,” he said.

“It’s chaos at the campus. “We are not prepared to go to class unless our grievances are met.”

Mbabela said that over the past five years the university had invested more than R300m of its own resources in support of widening access to academically deserving students.

Those were especially from poor and working-class backgrounds.

“While it remains committed to the principle of social justice and access for success, the university recognises that this should not negatively impact on the university’s sustainability and our key mandate of teaching and learning.”

She said that since the last student protest in March, nearly 2,000 students who were unable to register for various reasons – ranging from a lack of funding to poor academic performance – were given a second chance to access university tuition through a number of concessions by the university.

A total of 1,756 students, including 309 whose cases were assessed and dealt with by the clearing house, were allowed registration through the various concessions, she said.

On Wednesday afternoon, police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the situation was calm and police had left the scene.