Chaos at UJ but management denies violence
AUCKLAND PARK – Students from UJ allege that they were attacked by police at their Kingsway Campus.
Chaos and mayhem reigned at the University of Johannesburg as police descended on protesting students and workers at the Kingsway campus in Auckland Park on 5 November.
Violence has marred the protest where workers joined by students have been protesting throughout the week against outsourcing and up-front fee payments at the university.
A student from UJ spoke under condition of anonymity as he said that he was scared of being targeted by the university.
The student alleges that the protesters were peacefully singing in front of Madibeng Building when police arrived in their cars and immediately started shooting rubber bullets and spraying the protesters and students with tear gas.
“It was very chaotic on campus because the police were grabbing some of the students and some of the protestors grabbed the students back. The leaders of the protest had to go into hiding because the police were targeting them,” the student said.
The student added that the UJ SRC were now spearheading the protest and said that since the start of the week no one from the UJ management had come to listen to the protesters or address their grievances.
“The Vice Chancellor [Professor Ihron Rensburg] has time to appear on TV but does not have time for his workers or students. Who is protesting here, the media or us?” he asked
Students were attacked on 2 November by security guards hired by UJ, after attempting to occupy the Vice Chancellor’s office.
Read the tweets:
Dear UJ VC, u may have misunderstood what #EndOutSourcing means. It's about improving workers rights + dignity, not firing them. #OccupyUJ
— Amandla! (@AmandlaMobi) November 4, 2015
https://twitter.com/Anele_Nzimande/status/661833614838075392
We are at UJ; there are police and private security on campus #OccupyUJ
— Shaeera Akbar Kalla (@shaeera_k) November 4, 2015
@ANN7tv #OccupyUJ Police and Bouncers were beating and assaulting students and workers pic.twitter.com/ZaPWCHQeTH
— UJFeesMustFall (@UJFMF) November 4, 2015
https://twitter.com/UJAPK_SRC/status/661322611763355648
https://twitter.com/UJAPK_SRC/status/661322611763355648
Mpho Letlape, the deputy Vice Chancellor of Strategic services at UJ, indicated on 5 November that the UJ academic programme would continue despite the protest and added that UJ management had already addressed the issues that were brought to them and were not aware of any new demands from the protesters. “We called the police to protect our staff, students and visitors after a guard hut was burned on Kingsway Road gate number eight and we do have video evidence that the guard hut was burned by the protesters,” she said.
Letlape denied allegations that police used force, tear gas and rubber bullets and said that the police were only there to monitor the situation.
“There was a student who was inciting others to be violent as the police restrained themselves,” she said.
Letlape pointed out that they would react to the situation as and when events unfolded and pointed out that exams, which are beginning on 6 November would continue adding that the protesters were a minority and that the university had to prioritise their 42 000 undergraduates who were preparing to write exams.
