Higher education portfolio committee concerned over suspension of Wits SRC president, student arrests

• The Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation will meet with its portfolio committee on Wednesday.
• On Tuesday the committee met with education unions to discuss recent protests.
• Of concern was the suspension of the Wits SRC president and the arrest of two UKZN students. 

Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation will meet with the department on Wednesday after recent protests at colleges, universities and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.

The meeting will be informed by Tuesday’s virtual portfolio briefing by the South African Union of Students (SAUS) and South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training Student Association (Satvetsa).

The unions discussed the various issues affecting students and raised concerns about Monday’s suspension of Wits University student representative council (SRC) president Aphiwe Mnyamana.

According to the Wits senior executive team, Mnyamana failed to attend his suspension hearing on Monday.

READ | Wits to charge or suspend students who intimidated guards, damaged property during protest

Mnyamana tweeted that he had notified the university straight after receiving the suspension order that he wasn't in a position to attend the hearing and to postpone it to the next day. He claimed his request was ignored.

He tweeted: "@WitsUniversity should not use my illegal suspension as a strategy to deflect @Wits_SRC and the students from our primary goal and primary demands what we are asking for is for @WitsUniversity the Vice Chancellor so sit down with the @Wits_SRC  and discuss our concerns."

Wits students have been protesting rules around registration, as well as financial issues around accommodation.

Mnyamana is accused of conduct that infringed on the rights of others, resulted in damage to property, and the intimidation of members of the university community, among other things, according to the executive.

“He will not be allowed to access any of Wits’ precincts, participate in university activities and engage in conduct which constitutes 'student privileges', and will not be allowed to stay in Wits’ residences until the legal process is finalised,” the university stated.

The chair of the portfolio committee on higher education, Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, said she was concerned over this suspension as well as reports that two students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Edgewood Campus were arrested for public violence two weeks ago.

Mkhatshwa said she wanted a response from the department about these matters.

“We hear there are more students who have been suspended at Wits. In UKZN, we need the specific number of arrests. The department must bring us into its confidence about what is happening to students. A proper report is needed.

READ | Wits University protesters vow to continue after disruptions, harassment of students

“We hear about UWC [University of the Western Cape] protests, and at UP [University of Pretoria] they are threatening suspensions [to transgressing students]. We need a proper report, and [a report] on how many students or student leaders have been affected by management intimidation,” she said.

SAUS president Yandisa Ndzoyiya said he would be in talks with Wits and the SRC.

“This phenomenon of just suspending student leaders when they raise their own concerns is a problem. We have been raising this and I have raised it a number of times within the portfolio committee and [with] the department head,” Ndzoyiya said.

He said protest action largely affected Wits and UKZN. Students from the University of Johannesburg, UWC and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology were back in class after protesting earlier this year.

Students were also protesting against the R45 000 funding cap on accommodation. However, Ndzoyiya said SAUS supported this cap as it prevented exploitation from accommodation suppliers and the institution.

Wits spokesperson Shirona Patel said five students were suspended on Friday and one on Monday, not because they were protesting - but because they broke the university’s rules.

"They disrupted classes, blocked entrances and damaged property. The charges for each individual are different, depending on the evidence we have against them.”

She said Mnyamana had breached his suspension order by sneaking onto campus on Tuesday in a car driven by someone else.

“He has been requested to leave. This will be taken into consideration when the disciplinary hearings take place.”