As NWU Mafikeng closes, students demand to be moved to Potch campus

Students of the North-West University’s Mahikeng campus say they must be taken to the Potchefstroom campus so that they can continue with their studies following violent clashes yesterday. 

The campus has now been closed indefinitely. Yesterday, students disrupted the inauguration of a new student representative council. Chaotic scenes broke out when the crowd was dispersed by private security personnel. Last night a number of buildings, including a science building, were torched. 

“We must be taken to Potchefstroom to continue our studies there until we can come back here. They say there is no racism there and that they are not separating us by race so let us be taken there. We are all students of this university,” said one angry student. 

The university gave students three hours to evacuate the campus. In a statement, it said: “Students of the Mafikeng campus of the NWU are advised that the campus is closed indefinitely due to widespread fire damage. Students are advised to leave campus immediately for their own safety. 

“All students should leave the campus and return home as it is likely to take a considerable period of time to restore operations. Students will be given at least a month’s notice of the reopening of the campus.” 

Students said that private security personnel fired at them with live ammunition but the university still maintained that the claims were not true. 

Speaking to City Press by phone, spokesperson Koos Degenaar said that the shell casings that students said they picked up on campus were blanks. 

Students said that they couldn’t reveal their names for fear of victimisation but that they were confused about what would happen next. 

“I am a nursing student and now I must go home to Hammanskraal. The hospitals there are not accredited so I cannot do my practical, meaning I cannot graduate this year. Now I must go sit at home for three months.” 

The campus is currently under heavy private security and police watch. Forensics and a fire truck arrived a short while ago and parts of campus were being marked off as a crime scene.