THE University of the Western Cape in Cape Town has been closed "indefinitely" following a wave of violent protests by students demanding an end to fees for the "disadvantaged".
The university announced its closure yesterday morning after the student representative council demanded that all qualified students should be allowed to register for the new academic year, regardless of whether they had paid their fees.
In pursuit of this guarantee [the student council] has led students to break down doors, harass and intimidate other members of the campus community, prevent registration and other normal operations of the university, and even to embark on something which came close to hostage taking," said Professor Stanley Ridge, a spokesman for the university.
After negotiations with the students broke down, the college charged 93 of them with trespass for forcibly occupying an administration office. Yesterday, two switchboard operators were the only people on campus as police and security guards stood watch outside.
According to the university only about 600 of its 15,000 qualified students would at present be unable to register because they owed fees, although another 4,782 were in some debt.
Total student debt to the university amounts to 56 million which the authorities say cannot be written off without seriously damaging the operations of the college. The college already offers students loans to help clear debt provided they promise to repay at a later date.
The closure of the UWC is the latest in a series of disruptions involving radical national bodies such as the South African Student Congress and the Pan African Student Organisation. Radical black students, impatient for change, have called for "disadvantaged" students to be admitted to college without fees. They also want entry and examinations standards lowered to compensate for the lower standard of education available to most black children.
Yesterday, the PASO said all students should protest against the closure of the UWC, which was against the will of the nation.
"It is a shame for the administration of the UWC to continue to practise racial discrimination in the new South Africa," said Mr Nkosinathi Mahala. "Every student deserves better. The days of racial discrimination are gone, and it is about time that democracy, peace and equality prevails at the UWC."