Wits Protest: SRC President ‘sneaks’ onto campus despite being suspended

Wits University has confirmed that suspended Student Representative Council (SRC) president Aphiwe Mnyamana “snuck” on to the campus despite being suspended.

Mnyamana was barred from entering the Wits University grounds following serious allegations against him, including what Wits called the “infringement on the rights of others which resulted in damage to property, and the intimidation of members of the University community.”

Wits students have been protesting for the university to allow students owing R150 000 or less registration for the 2023 academic year, since last week,.

SRC president sneaks in

Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel said Mnyamana is not allowed on the Wits campus.

“The university has suspended five students last Friday and Aphiwe Mnyamana. We understand that he was back on campus and this is in breach of his suspension order. He came in by sneaking onto campus in a car driven by someone else. He was also requested to leave the campus.”

“This breach will be taken into consideration when the disciplinary hearings take place,” Patel said.

The Citizen did reach out to Mnyamana, but there was no response at the time of publishing.

ALSO READ: Wits student protests: SRC president Aphiwe Mnyamana suspended

Lesufi meeting

Patel also confirmed that Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi was supposed to meet with Wits vice-chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi.

“They were meant to meet this afternoon (Tuesday) on a one on one basis to discuss matter before meeting with a broader group at some time. The premier cancelled as he was in Westbury and was running later with the minister (Bheki Cele). They will reschedule the meeting as soon as possible.”

This comes after protesting Wits students took their demonstrations to Vilakazi’s private home “to put pressure” on him and even allegedly threatened to burn down his house if he did not accede to their demands.

However, Wits SRC said it was not a violent act to go to the vice-chancellor’s home, but a peaceful demonstration.

Protests

Patel added that Wits has no issue if students engage in peaceful protests.

“The university would like to make it clear it will not suspend anybody for protesting peacefully. It suspends students because they break the university rules,” Patel said.

ALSO READ: Wits SRC says marching to VC’s house was not violent