Wits management authorises police to deal with students
BRAAMFONTEIN – Workers at Wits University continued with the protest against outsourcing and handed over a memorandum to the university, outlining their grievances and demands.
After a disruptive morning at Wits University where the cleaners, joined by a faction of the students, protested at the entrance of the university against outsourcing, Wits management said that they have authorised the police to deal with the protesting students.
“We have now engaged the command structures of the police and they are securing all entrances. They are authorised to arrest all individuals who are involved in preventing lectures from taking place and other disruptive activities. We urge all staff and students to continue academic and other normal operations, and to support the academic project,” the statement on the Wits website reads.
Earlier on 28 October, the university had condemned what they called acts of vandalism after several fires were lit and a bookstore caught fire. The university further added more statements, drawing attention to Section 1 of the Trespass Act of 1959, ordering that protesters cease and desist from engaging in the conduct as referred to in the Act.
A memorandum was handed to the university by the cleaners, stating that outsourcing must come to an end and that they wished to start earning no less than R6 500 per month. The cleaners highlighted that the outsourced companies were paying the cleaners a standard rate of R16 per hour, but the university was being charged a much higher rate. They added that they wanted transparency with regard to all contracts signed pertaining to the outsourcing. It is yet not clear when the Wits academic programme will resume.
