UJ condemns series of criminal acts directed at the institution

AUCKLAND PARK – Deputy vice chancellor of UJ Mpho Letlape explains how the university will move forward after the attack on the school.

May 17, 2016

Neo Phashe 1 minute read

The Sanlam Auditorium is the main auditorium at University of Johannesburg's Auckland Park campus.

Deputy vice chancellor of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Mpho Letlape led a media briefing on 16 May that discussed the fire that destroyed the Sanlam Auditorium.

Nobody was injured in the fire. The blaze was eventually brought under control by City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services, but the building was effectively gutted.

In a statement delivered to the media, vice chancellor Ihron Rensburg said that this act was the latest in a series of criminal acts directed at the institution which must be condemned by all in the strongest terms possible.

Letlape said that this was not the first incident that has occurred at UJ. “Last week we found a petrol bomb that burnt one chair in one of the large auditoriums,” said Letlape. She explained that security detail found the fire quickly and managed to extinguish it. Operations at the school continued normally.

She also said that they plan to clean up as best as they can and will relocate the students who have been impacted. She added that the university will now have to relocate graduations ceremonies that would have taken place at the auditorium during the first week of June. “We still have a couple of weeks to make alternate arrangements,” said Letlape.

Rensburg said that they are calling on the police, intelligence services, and the judiciary to re-double their efforts in getting to the bottom of this organised set of attacks, and to ensure that every last one of the very small number of perpetrators is apprehended, tried and sent to jail.

Details: University of Johannesburg, 011 559 4555.