Police use rubber bullets at university
Police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday afternoon to disperse protesting students from Durban's Mangosutho University of Technology. Remember this is not really a university it used to be the Mangosutho Technicon! I kid you not. They simply renamed it some or other university to pacify the k4s.
Students were reportedly angry at the suspension of a member of the Students Representative Council (SRC) during the day.
The latest protests followed those in the morning when students protested against an apparent shortage of lecturers at the institution.
SRC president Brian Masondo said that while management had denied that the SRC member's suspension was linked to ongoing student demonstrations, "we believe it is strongly linked to the protests."
There were no immediate reports of injuries - however, a Sapa reporter on the scene saw one student with a bloodied head.
The protesting students were also blockading the Mangosutho Buthelezi Highway causing traffic chaos in Durban's Umlazi area.
Motorists attempting to pass the institution along the highway found themselves confronted by about 5000 angry students.
Earlier Masondo told Sapa there was an extreme shortage of lecturers because they fear working at the place!
"In the accounting course alone they are short of three lecturers. They (management) are not getting them (the posts) filled and students are not being taught."
Hau!
The gates to the campus were initially closed with a large crowd gathered outside threatening to burn the place.
The gates were later opened and students were milling around the administration blocks.
There was a large police presence with Ethekweni metro and SA Police Services members monitoring the situation.
