Nine cars petrol-bombed at DUT’s Indumiso campus

Nine cars have been petrol-bombed at the Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) Indumiso campus in Pietermaritzburg in the early hours of Monday morning.

According to the university, a group of eight to 10 suspects threw a petrol bomb inside a guard house near the pedestrian gate along Edendale Road, while a campus security guard was inside.

He managed to escape unharmed and ran towards the DUT Protection Services offices to alert the security team, said the university in a statement.

“As he ran, the officer noticed that the group of suspects who were chasing him had also set a vehicle on fire. The vehicle belonged to the private security company contracted to DUT.

“An internal incident report from the University’s Protection Services personnel confirmed that the suspects then proceeded to the parking area near the Protection Services offices and set alight eight vehicles belonging to the University and to DUT staff members. The suspects then fled towards the gate, which they had initially damaged when they forced entry onto the Indumiso campus. The suspects were seen running towards a white vehicle with ND (Durban) registration plates.”

No one was injured in the attack.

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“The incident report also highlights that students accommodated at the Indumiso campus residence were not part of the attack. Plessislaer SAPS are investigating the attack,” said the university.

Last Tuesday, four vehicles were set alight at DUT’s Steve Biko campus after criminals invaded the campus. This led to the temporary closure of the Steve Biko, Ritson and ML Sultan campuses, reports Capital Newspapers.

This comes a few days after the DUT was granted an interim interdict by the High Court, which interdicted a group of students from being physically situated within 150 metres of any of the university’s premises when marching gathering, protesting or demonstrating.

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They were also interdicted from “interfering with, threatening, harassing, intimidating or in any way violently interacting with, or interfering in any manner with the free movement, bodily integrity and psychological and mental wellbeing, and any other constitutional rights of the employees, representatives or students of the applicant when marching, gathering, protesting or demonstrating or otherwise grouping for unlawful purposes, at or in the vicinity of the applicant’s premises.”