Publications
Partners
Johannesburg – Police watchdog Ipid will investigate the shooting of former Wits SRC leader Shaeera Kalla with several rubber bullets during a protest on Thursday.
“Any police officer found to have contravened the law will be dealt with accordingly. We wish the injured student a speedy recovery,” police spokesperson Brigadier Sally de Beer said in a statement.
Kalla wrote on Facebook that she was part of a peaceful protest on the West campus around noon when police “unleashed violence”.
“I was shot 13 times in the back, at a very close range in a targeted attack on students,” she said.
At the time, protesters had their hands in the air and were negotiating with police not to shoot. She said she was in “extreme pain”.
When News24 arrived at the Wits health clinic, where Kalla was initially treated, she was lying on her stomach and was in tears. Student leader Busisiwe Seabe fainted at the clinic. She appeared to be short of breath.
Seabe, who helped Kalla get away after the first few shots, was also in hospital.
De Beer said the acting national commissioner, Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane had asked that the circumstances of her shooting be investigated.
Phahlane dispatched Lieutenant General Deliwe De Lange to the hospital to which Kalla had been admitted.
"Members of the police are once again called upon to exercise maximum restraint and to act within the confines of the law. Our approach and management of the situation around campuses must be characterised by discipline and the proportional use of force," De Beer said.
She however said that despite efforts by all involved, “unruly elements” continued to disrupt classes and examinations, destroy university infrastructure, and provoke police.
She called on protesting students to act lawfully and to allow those who wanted to, to complete the academic year.
