Classes at UWC, CPUT suspended as shutdown continues
5 October 2016
Cape Town – Classes were suspended at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) on Wednesday morning, as protesting students continued their shutdown of various campuses.
In the early hours of the morning, human faeces were dumped in the security office of CPUT’s Bellville campus.
"The security office is required to be accessible to all students who may need assistance, so it is unfortunate that protesters targeted a space that innocent students may need to access," it said in a statement.
A decision was made to keep classes suspended on Wednesday, after ongoing security assessments.
Academic activities were initially meant to continue at UWC, but students who arrived for class were unable to drive onto the campus.
Intimidation
All entrances were blocked off, including the entrance to the library, university spokesperson Luthando Thyalibongo confirmed.
"We are asking our students to go home today until we update them."
Some lecturers and students were intimidated, he added.
Long lines of parked cars were seen outside the university.
Protesting students, meanwhile, formed a circle in Modderdam Road and held a "political class".
UWC’s deputy vice-chancellor of student development and support, Professor Pamela Dube, apparently met with those who were blocking the entrance gates.
"The university is finding ways to engage with protesting students," said Thyalibongo.
A meeting with university management was expected to take place at some stage.
UWC students submitted a detailed memorandum of demands last week.
Top of the list was a demand for free, quality, black-centred education, and no talks of feasibility or increments.
They wanted all student debts to be cleared, and the scrapping of registration and application fees.
Other concerns related to safety and the affordability of accommodation, study material and clinics.
Students demanded free sanitary pads and 10 gigabytes of free data per month for those on campus.
This article first appeared on News24, see here.
