Forty-eight EFF members are expected to appear in the Newlands Magistrates’ Court on 7 August, for staging what the University of Johannesburg said, was an unauthorised protest.
The Brixton Police spokesperson Colonel Mitchelle Jones confirmed that EFF members were arrested for staging an illegal protest at UJ’s Kingsway Campus on 6 August.
She added that no fatalities were reported.
Herman Esterhuizen, UJ’s campus media liaison officer, said the situation was calm now.
“The problem started on Thursday morning [6 August] when the EFF party members gathered outside our university premises. They were denied access into the university and police were alerted because it was an illegal march. It was not authorised by us and not authorised by the City of Joburg. When they saw that they were denied access, they started fighting,” explained Esterhuizen.
He further confirmed that not all the protesting people are students at UJ.
“Only a few of our students participated. For now, we are investigating by studying the footage, trying to identify our students among the groups, then we can take it from there,” said the campus media liason officer.
A security guard, who wished not to be named, said the members were violent, blocked the traffic, prevented cars and other students from going into and outside the campus.
According to our sister paper, The Citizen, the EFF members disrupted lectures during the protest.
The newspaper alleges that the protest was sparked by the suspension of five students on Tuesday [4 August]for allegedly disrupting those writing exams.
UJ director of student life and governance Godfrey Helani told The Citizen that behaviour “such as threats of intimidation and acts of victimisation will not be tolerated at the university”.
Citizen further reported that a police officer whose name tag identified him as Twala, was seen intimidating the newspaper photographer Allister Russell. Twala warned Russell against taking pictures of police officers arresting students.
“Don’t take pictures. Chief don’t shoot me. If I see my picture in the papers, you are in trouble,” the officer shouted. An upset Russell, who witnessed scenes of bloody mayhem, said police randomly harassed him at the protest.
EFF’s Gauteng spokesperson Mandisa Mashego refused to comment.
Mashego said, “I cannot comment on that stuff,” and she hung up the phone.
