Students at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus were prevented from attending classes on Tuesday by fellow students who were protesting, university authorities said.
The director of the Mamelodi campus, Edwin Smith, said protesting members of the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma) prevented other students from entering the property.
He said Pasma has now given an undertaking that nobody will be stopped from attending classes on Wednesday.
Pasma president Sebei Mametlwe denied that anyone had been prevented from attending class, saying the students had all boycotted classes to protest against ”unjust and unilateral” decisions by the university management.
One of Pasma’s main complaints is the phasing-out of courses at the campus and what Mametlwe termed the ”closure” of campus.
Pasma is also against academic exclusions, which saw hundreds of students lose their places at the university due to poor academic performance.
Police and campus security kept a watchful eye as protesters burned tyres outside the campus gates.
Smith said he had no reports of damage to university property and added that he hoped talks between the university and students would lead to a peaceful resolution of the tensions.
”It is unfortunately that time of year when students who have appealed their academic exclusions and been turned down start protesting,” he said.
On Tuesday, Pasma also demanded that the university’s name be changed to Mothopeng University after former Pan Africanist Congress leader Zephania Lekoane Mothopeng.
”We want the university to reconsider its name and its entire culture since Pretoria and subsequently the University of Pretoria was named after a slave trader [Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius] who led a trek from the Cape in protest against the emancipation of slaves,” he said.
The Mamelodi campus was one of the main sites of the former Vista University and was incorporated into the University of Pretoria in 2004 as part of the restructuring of higher education.
It has seen several violent protests, including around the university’s announcement last year that it would phase out its undergraduate programmes and use the premises for academic service learning.
The university stressed that it is not planning to close the campus, but aims to change its role to ensure that more students are taught there. — Sapa