TUT suspends academic activities at two campuses due to protests
Activities on all other campuses would continue as scheduled on Tuesday.
Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) students can be seen outside the Pretoria West Campus where classes have been suspended due to students protests, 2 March 2020, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Continuous student protests at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) have resulted in academic activities being suspended at two campuses.
In a statement, TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter said the decision to suspend activities at the Pretoria campuses on Tuesday followed a meeting with student leaders last Monday afternoon.
TUT suspended academic activities at all campuses last week following protests. On Friday, it announced an agreement was reached between management and student leaders that all academic activities would resume on Monday.
“However, renewed protest action at the Pretoria [Soshanguve] and Ga-Rankuwa campuses this morning saw activities suspended for another day,” De Ruyter said.
“For the past week, TUT management deliberated on various memoranda on the issues that gave rise to escalating student protests at various campuses.
“Engagement with student leaders from the Pretoria campuses will continue tomorrow with a view of commencing activities as soon as possible.”
Activities on all other campuses would continue as scheduled on Tuesday, De Ruyter said.
TUT north campus SRC president Khaya Mlangeni previously told News24 students were protesting over issues like the Nsfas, housing, phasing out of certain programmes and problems with transport.
He said TUT would remain closed and protests would continue until management responded positively to their grievances.
Mlangeni added the SRC had been in talks with TUT management, but there was no progress in resolving problems the students currently faced.
Last week, police were called to TUT’s Soshanguve and Ga-Rankuwa campuses to quell the protests.
At the time, Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said there were sporadic protests, with students barricading roads near the entrances of the affected campuses.
“The police had to use stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protesting students,” he added.
No arrests were made, and no damage to property has been reported since the protests started.
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