The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) is considering temporarily closing its doors after police broke up student protests at its main campus in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Captain Lucas Sithole said 16 students were arrested at a march to protest the suspension of lectures outside the university’s main campus at 11.30am.
Police used rubber bullets and a water cannon to disperse the 2 000-strong crowd who were blocking two streets leading to the campus, he said.
University vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Errol Tyobeka, said closing the university would be a last resort, but would take place if the safety of staff or students or university property was threatened.
”The safety of students and teachers are of primary concern. The situation has deteriorated this morning and that has forced management to consider closure,” said university spokesperson Willa de Ruyter.
The South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) condemned the police action and called on the provincial Community Safety minister Firoz Cachalia to ”discipline the SAPS [South African Police Service] personnel involved”.
The organisation had convened the students who embarked on a ”peaceful protest march”, said Sasco president David Maimela.
”The central demand was to urge the TUT management to resolve their dispute with the worker unions in TUT so that students can go back to class by Thursday this week.”
The strike by the university’s staff started on August 1, with lectures suspended.
The staff involved are members of the National Union of Tertiary Employees of South Africa (Nutesa) and the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu).
The strike was due to a disagreement on a pay increase for the year and various other issues at the university.
Negotiations over salary increases resumed on Tuesday morning. – Sapa