About 350 students of the University of the Free State handed over a memorandum on Friday demanding an end to the promotion of Afrikaans as a compulsory medium of instruction at the main campus.
The students marched peacefully from Hoffman Square in the city centre to the main campus entrance, before the memorandum was handed to university rector Frederick Fourie.
African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) provincial chairperson Teboho Sikisi said students from the Qwa Qwa and Vista campuses — now merged with Free State University — also took part in the march.
The march took place under the flag of the ANCYL, the Young Communists League and the South African Students’ Congress, Sikisi said.
ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula addressed the group at the main gate, which was barricaded by police and campus security guards.
A court order forbidding the protesters from entering the campus grounds was presented to them.
In the memorandum, students demand an extension of the cut-off date of March 8 so they can raise money to pay a newly required registration fee.
”We also want the management to introduce a flexible debt-collection policy that will ensure that students are not deregistered,” Mbalula said. ”Blacklisting of students must also be avoided.”
Mbalula said the university administration should address the racism entrenched in the allocation of accommodation to students on the main campus.
”The exclusion of black students in the student representative council is another issue, with only three black representatives in the council to represent all these students,” Mbalula said.
Receiving the memorandum, Fourie said that the matters will receive attention.
University administration said earlier that a transformation plan is on the table.
”We are committed to the successful incorporation of the Vista and Qwa Qwa campuses and to the speedy resolution of all outstanding issues facing staff and students on these campuses,” university spokesperson Anton Fisher said.
The students dispersed peacefully. — Sapa