WHEN University of Zululand lecturer Mandisa Hlatshaneni resisted hijackers who were trying to steal her car on campus recently, she was shot dead. The evening before, student Sibusiso Mehlo was murdered two kilometres from the same campus, allegedly by the same notorious “Khumalo gang”.
Incidents like these are becoming almost commonplace, shattering the illusion that campuses are idyllic, safe havens from the rest of the crime- infested world outside.
At Wits University, the luckless visitor of a university worker was shot dead on the university premises in March, and at the University of the North, a student was gunned down recently in broad daylight by AK-47 gunfire.
Last year, two academics at Fort Hare university were shot dead and at the University of the Transkei (Unitra), two students were shot dead.
Campus protection services at universities around the country report an increase in crimes involving guns on campuses and report massive losses incurred from the theft of computers and other equipment.
Professor Phillip Potgieter of the University of Zululand, who is conducting research at campuses around the country, notes that armed robbery and theft of campus property have “escalated tremendously”.
He belongs to the Campus Protection Society of Southern Africa (Camprosa), which was set up in 1993 in an attempt to monitor escalating crime and violence on campuses.
“That crime on campuses is soaring is of no doubt. The financial cost to tertiary institutions runs into millions,” says Potgieter, who is awaiting responses from universities and technikons on their crime statistics for last year. He notes a reluctance by many institutions to divulge these figures, for fear of scaring off potential students and funders. Given that many crimes go unreported or are “buried”, a true picture of the extent of campus crime is hard to sketch.
But Camprosa is pressuring the education ministry to introduce legislation compelling tertiary institutions to disclose their crime figures annually, “and by doing so, getting their houses in order or lose their state subsidies”.
Legislation to this effect exists in universities in the United States, where campus security is a serious business. Unlike our campus security services, who are unarmed and have no more policing powers than ordinary citizens, theirs are trained policemen who drive around armed to the teeth in patrol cars.
In Potgieter’s view, students and imposters on campus are all too aware of the vulnerability of campus security. “They don’t have the power to deal effectively with crime and unrest situations and students take advantage of this.”
But most campus security chiefs interviewed by the Mail & Guardian were against their staff carrying guns and were keen to keep campuses “gun-free zones”.
“Imagine if a campus control officer shot a student. We do not want to be armed?” says Dave Blacker, head of crime operations at the University of Cape Town. “But if the use of firearms escalates beyond all measure the time may come when we have to be,” he added.
Unitra is facing civil action after two students were shot dead by internal security. The same university has seen people coming on to campus, selling guns to students. And often enough, campus security personnel meet with resistance from staff and students wanting to arm themselves.
Campus security services report an increase in the number of “bashes” held at universities — all- night parties where enormous quantities of alcohol are consumed, all too often degenerating into drunken brawls, shootings, stabbings and even rape.
Last year a student was gang-raped at a University of Natal party and a “bash” at the University of Zululand led to the murder of a student, according to the university’s director of protection services, Ken Mackay. Two students were killed earlier this year at a similar party at the University of Durban- Westville, he adds.
Mackay believes students and staff need to change their lifestyles. “It’s difficult to impose protection on people not prepared to bend to meet the changing situation. You have to keep your wits about you to stay alive in this country these days.”
“Lots of people think that university is a nice little sanctuary immune from crime. But this is not true. It would be naive to think we could avoid the unprecedented crime-wave sweeping the rest of the country,” says Doug Grierson, head of campus control at UCT, who notes a slight increase in violent crime on his campus. Last year UCT had four armed robberies, 271 break-ins, and lost almost R2-million in stolen property.
Wits University is boosting its security budget by R2,5-million to tighten up access to the university and introduce more security checks. The university grapples with the spillover of petty criminals from the nearby city and security chief Chris Hirst notes an increase in muggings and armed robberies, despite a generally static crime rate over the past 18 months. Wits has had two armed robberies in the last six months.
Camprosa vice-president and security consultant to universities Stretch Hughes says increasing student numbers and students living on campus is contributing to growing crime. He believes “a new Act must be passed that makes the disclosure of crime compulsory. Lots of universities don’t keep records of the crimes. There is a great deal of secrecy about the types of crime they have, because they don’t want to turn parents off. They all too frequently try to handle serious cases internally. In some instances, they’ve had their knuckles rapped by attorneys general for this.”
At Camprosa’s annual conference next month, delegates will look at some of the latest campus policing measures like hidden cameras, closed- circuit television systems, effective access control, student escorts and “blue light” patrol services.
The South African Students Organisation emerged from a conference this week with a new crime prevention plan to be launched in September, linked to the National Crime Prevention Strategy. The organisation is calling for students to participate in campus policing forums.
“We are going to encourage students to serve as police reservists and take part in protecting their colleagues,” says deputy secretary general Kgomotso Diseko.
He says campus protection services had to be “retrained” to be less aggressive and more attuned to the Nineties era of negotiation.
Diseko also pointed to growing evidence of “management corruption”, such as tax evasion and fraud and called for a commission of inquiry into the University of Zululand’s “false degree” scandal.