Disgruntled University of Johannesburg (UJ) students on Friday decided not to attend a scheduled meeting with management to resolve campus issues.
The university’s spokesperson, Sonia Cronjé, told the South African Press Association the meeting between student representatives and management had been scheduled for 2pm.
However, Cronje said officials were informed that the students would not be attending the meeting.
Fees increases and protest action over the past four days were to have been at the top of the agenda, she said.
University officials said they would be monitoring student activity on Friday.
”No protest action will be allowed on Kingsway or any other campuses of UJ. Management is monitoring the situation closely and is taking the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that normal academic activity continues,” Cronje said.
The Student Representative Council has complained that the Doornfontein, Soweto and Bunting Road campuses were sidelined as compared to the Kingsway campus — previously the Rand Afrikaans University before a merger of the institutions.
They also charged that students, mostly white, who played rugby, were afforded more bursaries than black students who played soccer.
Police arrested 43 students during protests earlier in the week and all were later released on bail and are expected to re-appear in court on October 25.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) earlier called for more balanced consideration in the increase of higher education fees in the interest of nation-building.
”The commission would like to appeal to university leadership to pay due regard to the economic hardship faced by many of the families and to keep fee increases to a minimum as the Education Minister, Naledi Pandor, has proposed,” the commission’s spokesperson, Vincent Moaga, said.
He said the constitution provided that everyone had a right to further education. — Sapa