Students at Walter Sisulu University have been given letters instructing them to vacate the university at Nelson Mandela Drive Campus in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
This comes after a protest by student and workers turned violent at the campus on Wednesday.
A minibus belonging to Falcon Private Security Company was torched and other properties were damaged.
Students are demanding issues ranging from accommodation and registration, while workers are demanding the in-sourcing of employees that are employed by the private companies at the university.
University spokesperson, Yonela Tukwayo says they have decided to shut down the university until further notice.
“That was sparked by the incident where we saw a Falcon security team being attacked, and some of them were injured and their vehicle was torched as well. So this is the sign that the students have declared a war, and when we see the destruction of property in such a manner we are left with no option but to remove the people that are causing the chaos in the campus, in order to protect the university’s property,” says Tukwayo.
Meanwhile, students at the Ibika Campus in the Eastern Cape have closed the campus in protest for poor amenities and the university’s failure to employ lecturers in the faculty of engineering.
Students accuse management of dragging its feet in resolving student related matters.
SRC secretary in the campus, Sibongiseni Mayeza says, “We need an intervention in terms of staffing. We don’t have staffing. We want the institution to employ lecturers, we want the institution to employ staff, that is support staff members, we want them to ensure that they renovate lecture halls and we want them to build residence and maintain residences.”
