Disruptions at 2 DUT campuses as students protest over unpaid meal allowances
17 September 2018
There were disruptions on two Durban University of Technology (DUT) campuses on Monday following a protest by scores of students who demanded to hand over a memorandum of grievances to management on Monday.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said a group of about 300 students had participated in the protest.
"POP (Public Order Policing) members are at the scene to monitor the situation," said Zwane.
Alan Khan, senior director of corporate affairs at DUT, said they had noted with concern the disruption of classes and the intimidation of staff and students.
"Two campuses in Durban were affected, namely the ML Sultan and Steve Biko campuses," he said.
Khan said they had noted that a poster was circulated on social media over the weekend, which had threatened to shut down DUT operations on Monday.
"DUT management did not know the reasons for that threat," Khan said.
He said DUT's vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Thandwa Mthembu, had received a memorandum with a list of demands from the student representative council (SRC).
IOL earlier reported that the students were protesting because some of them had not been paid their meal allowances this semester.
Khan said a meeting had been scheduled with the SRC for later on Monday to discuss the issues that were raised in their memorandum.
"DUT has not been shut down, university operations continue, and classes are on the go, despite some of the disruptions this morning. We wish to encourage protesting students to dissuade from threatening and intimidating staff and students who are not protesting, as this is illegal," he added.
