Since Wits University erupted in protest after the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande announced that universities could raise fees by up to 8 per cent, bombs have been found on the premises and the university has remained closed.
After shutting down the main campus, the students marched to the Wits education campus in Parktown on 20 September, with police hot on their heels.
Police officers attempted to stop the march and threw stun grenades at the students on St Andrew Road, but the students managed to reach their destination and gathered more students. Earlier in the day, 31 students were arrested by police after they attempted to block the gates of the university at 5am.
When the students returned to the main campus in Braamfontein, more violence ensued as private security hired by the university and riot police came to blows with students who retaliated by breaking dustbins and threw stones at the private security guards, who were blocking the main entrance to Solomon Mahlangu House.
The Great Hall steps were littered with rocks and sand after the altercation.
New student leaders emerged such as Busisiwe Seabe and newly elected Wits SRC president, Kefentse Mkhari who led the protesting students through rubber bullets and stun grenades.
However, former Wits SRC president, Nceba Dlamini returned to the front lines to help move the protest forward after infighting between leaders of the protest broke out several times.
Two students found themselves being ferried to hospital after one student fell on a stun grenade that blew up under her while the other student suffered injuries to her right leg.
Another two students were arrested by police after the altercation.
After students marched to Cosatu House, Cosatu committed to join the students on a mass march on 14 October and said that they would put pressure on the government to help poor students who could not afford the steep cost of higher learning.
The university then announced that they would poll students on whether they wanted university activities to resume and would announce the results by 30 September.
Nzimande has remained firm in his stance that fees must go up as he counted the cost of repairs to varsities at half a billion rand.
Wits SRC secretary-general Fasiha Hassan was very vocal against the police action and condemned the university for allowing them onto the campus.
“We need government to speed up the process of the Fees Commission. We also need them to alter the terms of reference. They cannot be asking whether it is feasible or not; they need to be asking how are we going to implement free education in South Africa,” she said.
Many other university campuses have also experienced disruptions or closures across the country including the University of Johannesburg.
