Student leader Busisiwe Seabe lambasted the media yesterday for portraying students as violent.
"We are not violent, we are militant and we won't be apologetic about that," said Seabe.
She said students have been trying to talk to the state and vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib for a solution to no avail. She said students want a "serious and practical commitment" from the university to assist them in their fight for a free, decolonised education.
"So essentially, what we want is that we need them on the ground, we need them to march, we need Habib in the front with the perish and the clergy as well as we march to the Treasury, for an example. We need them to be physically available to pressure the state to give us free education.
"This is something that they can easily do but they refuse. So, we want them to offer physical support and not just commitments and them agreeing in principle, we don't need their principles ... we have our own," Seabe said.
However, Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel said management had tried on several occasions to meet with student leaders but failed. She said they had recently sent a letter to the SRC asking for a meeting but they had not heard from the student body.
Patel said the university had no choice but to have police on campus to ensure they saved the 2016 academic programme. She added that classes took place yesterday even though there was still a low turn-up.
'We are not violent, we are militant', says student leader
Student leader Busisiwe Seabe lambasted the media yesterday for portraying students as violent.
"We are not violent, we are militant and we won't be apologetic about that," said Seabe.
She said students have been trying to talk to the state and vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib for a solution to no avail. She said students want a "serious and practical commitment" from the university to assist them in their fight for a free, decolonised education.
"So essentially, what we want is that we need them on the ground, we need them to march, we need Habib in the front with the perish and the clergy as well as we march to the Treasury, for an example. We need them to be physically available to pressure the state to give us free education.
"This is something that they can easily do but they refuse. So, we want them to offer physical support and not just commitments and them agreeing in principle, we don't need their principles ... we have our own," Seabe said.
However, Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel said management had tried on several occasions to meet with student leaders but failed. She said they had recently sent a letter to the SRC asking for a meeting but they had not heard from the student body.
Patel said the university had no choice but to have police on campus to ensure they saved the 2016 academic programme. She added that classes took place yesterday even though there was still a low turn-up.
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