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- The Cape Peninsula University of Technology has evacuated students from residences amid ongoing protest action.
- Thousands of students were evacuated over the weekend.
- Protest action at the institution and neighbouring University of the Western Cape appeared to have died down.
Thousands of Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) resident students were transported from the Bellville campus amid ongoing protest action over the weekend.
The protests were driven by students' concerns about the discontinuation of National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) allowances and a lack of accommodation.
CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley said the university had made 52 buses available to transport student residents to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Free State, and the North West.
READ | Cops stoned, fired at with paintball gun during CPUT protests
"It was a logistical operation of quite some magnitude that took the entire weekend," she added.
She said CPUT's management would meet to thrash out the details of assessments and online academic activities.
She slammed "propaganda from the anti-CPUT camp" that students had not arrived at their destinations safely.
The protest action appeared to die down after the emergency evacuation of students from residences. Kansley said the university's campuses were as "quiet, as we'd hoped" on Monday morning.
On Wednesday, the university obtained an interim interdict from the Western Cape High Court, restraining the student representative council (SRC) and protesting students from disrupting campus activities and damaging infrastructure.
But protesters attacked police officers on Thursday, torched buildings and cars, and assaulted a security guard.
CPUT closed all of its campuses indefinitely on Thursday and was forced to call off its scheduled open day.
The emergency evacuation of all its residences commenced on Friday.
Kansley said the move was necessary to ensure the safety of students, "many of whom were intimidated and bullied by protesters".
But the SRC said students would be disadvantaged by the move due to limited access to the internet, which would result in missed submissions and an inability to keep up to date with academic activities.
The SRC also claimed the interdict against the protest action was an intimidation tactic and it planned to apply to march to the NSFAS offices and Parliament with the aim of meeting with the Portfolio Committee of Higher Education and Training.
Meanwhile, police are maintaining a presence at CPUT and UWC, which was also hit by protest action last week.
Two men, aged 18 and 23, were arrested during the protests on Thursday, said police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk.
Police are investigating a case of public violence.
"Once charged they are expected to make a court appearance in the Bellville Magistrate's Court," he said.
UWC spokesperson Gasant Abarder also said there was "very little going on, apart from the business of assessments" at campuses.
Last week, students protested against the death of third-year BCom student Kamva Dasi. He was shot dead during an armed robbery in Belhar. Protesters said Dasi's death highlighted ongoing safety concerns for students.
Abarder said there were new shuttle routes to and from residences, and that a safety forum was established.
"The issues that the university could resolve has been sorted," he said.
