#OpenOurUniversities: Resounding support for Wits to re-open gives voice to ‘silenced majority’

30 September 2016

The DA welcomes the overwhelming support shown by Wits students for the campus to re-open, as revealed in a poll conducted by the university yesterday.

According to a statement from Wits, 77% of the 21 730 students who voted in the poll support Wits re-opening onMonday, 3 October 2016.

This is a victory for the overwhelming majority of students who had been silenced through violence and intimidation. 

Indeed, it is only a small group of individuals who are determined to keep our campuses shut, undermining the rights of other students, and hurting the very people who need assistance. 

The DA urges all students to allow our campuses to re-open across the country. The right to peacefully protest should not break the law and undermine the rights of others to learn.

We are committed to ensuring that the ANC government is held to account for its despicable neglect of the higher education sector, which has allowed so many poor students to be left behind. 

No student should be denied an education because they are poor. To make this a reality, the ANC must start getting its priorities right and invest in the future of our country instead of Jacob Zuma and his friends. 

We will continue to work tirelessly to make sure that this happens as soon as possible. 

Statement issued by Prof Belinda Bozzoli MP, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education and Training, 30 September 2016