SABC News reports that Head of Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Dr Kelly Gillespie, says she and others have set up an observation group to monitor the violence happening on their campus.
Students have been protesting violently for over three weeks demanding free higher education, while police and private security have been deployed. Gillespie said having security on campus doesn't help ease the tension and added: “The narratives that are coming out from our senior management are absolutely not capturing what's going on at university. In fact, sometimes, we get emails from the Vice-Chancellor's office telling us to carry on teaching while we hear stun grenades going off outside our offices and students fleeing and screaming. There's a disconnect between what's going on on the ground and what's going on in management who refuse to come down and engage students.”
- Read this report by Horisani Sithole and Zinhle Nkosi in full at SABC News
- Read too, Black academics at Wits speak out, at IOL News
- And also, Cops must leave Wits battlefield, lecturers plead, at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page