#FeesMustFall activist stages campout at Union Buildings

'Fees Must Fall' activist Bonginkosi Khanyile has travelled all the way from Durban to stage a sleep-out on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria today.

Khanyile hopes to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond to his request for a presidential pardon.Last week Khanyile was convicted in the Durban Regional Court on charges of public violence‚ failing to comply with a police instruction and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Khanyile is accompanied by his mother Phumzile Khathini,59, and a group of students. He started at Unisa, Sunnyside campus to greet other student activists in the movement. 

"We arrived in Johannesburg this morning and we are on our way to the Union Buildings to stage a sleep-out. We will open an information desk and we are calling for people to come and sign the petition," Khanyile said.

Some EFF student activists were already waiting for him outside the Union Buildings. One of the students, Amla Monageng, who was sentenced to house arrest in February, said they were showing solidarity with Khanyile.

"It is important to raise awareness as fees must fall activists have been convicted. It does not make sense to continue to victimise us whereas they have forgiven the apartheid regime. We should be getting a political amnesty and be cleared from the instututions of higher learning," Monageng said.

A couple of mattresses were already laid out on the lawns at the Union Buildings - the official seat of the South African government - earlier today and students are busy signing a petition form asking the president to pardon the #FeesMustFall activists.