Protests erupt at UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg campus

African News Agency (ANA)

Protests erupt at UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg campus
Student protests in South Africa caused R459 million in property damage

Protests erupted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus on Thursday morning with police using teargas as students threw stones at them from one of the university’s student residences.

An ANA correspondent at the scene reported that police had surrounded the Malherbe residence and had fired teargas into the building for about 30 minutes.

He said that every so often groups of about eight or 10 students would emerge from a window and throw stones at the police.
“It is difficult to tell how many are in there. The whole place is cordoned off and I haven’t seen anyone going in,” he said.

A fire that that was set alight at the entrance to the Malherbe residence was doused by the fire brigade.

Students were also seen throwing stones at vehicles passing Alan Paton Drive (formerly Durban Road), the main access road into Pietermaritzburg from Durban on the N3.

There were unconfirmed reports that the road had since been closed.

The ANA correspondent reported that more police were seen arriving, including officers from the police’s Tactical Response Team.

Comment was not immediately available from the university and comment could not be obtained from Spelele Nguse, the student representative council president of the Pietermaritzburg campus.

There were no immediate reports of protest from any of the university’s other four campuses.

Students are demanding that there be no fee increases.

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SOURCEAfrican News Agency (ANA)