Riots suspend VUT classes indefinitely
Fire and Rescue personnel arrived but left because they said it was dangerous to get too close to the violent students. They said their safety was not guaranteed. At the time, the students were burning the garbage bins. Rubber bullets were fired by police from Nyala vehicles to disperse the rioting students.
VANDERBIJLPARK. – A three-day protest that resulted in chaos, with students running amok, burning property and buildings, has forced the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) management to suspend classes indefinitely. The students were given until 14:00 to vacate residences.
A night before, combustible mattresses were used by some students to feed fires. Sedibeng Ster saw how female students collected the mattresses from their rooms to burn. The escalation of violence, risk to life and property, led to management suspending classes.
The residence buildings went up in thick clouds of smoke on Wednesday between 19:00 and 23:00. Latecomers raucously complained that their ID books and certificates were going up in smoke.
Fire and Rescue personnel arrived but left because they said it was dangerous to get too close to the violent students. They said their safety was not guaranteed. At the time, the students were burning the garbage bins. Rubber bullets were fired by police from Nyala vehicles to disperse the rioting students.
VUT spokesperson Mike Khubone said the protests started on May 3 and resumed on May 10 and 11 and were led by the Students Representative Council, SRC.
The incidents resulted in malicious damage and burning of property. Khubone said the protesters insisted on the appointment of certain service providers without regard for university procurement processes.
They demanded the withdrawal of criminal charges and the lifting of suspensions against students and non-students facing serious charges of damage to property, grievous bodily harm to fellow students and security guards, and the burning of property, not to cite the violation of the human rights of staff and students.
The suspension of classes has seen hundreds of frustrated students packing their belongings and leaving the residences. Students, especially from outside the Sedibeng region, said they had run out of ideas: “We don’t know where our next meal will come from. We don’t have relatives here. It’s really bad,” This was the general view, as students were waiting outside in the middle of the night. It was very quiet after students vacated the campus under the heavy guard of security.
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