Despite intimidation from protesting university students, police across South Africa will continue to perform their duties wherever needed, says Acting National Commissioner of Police Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane.
He also said here Monday that the country was far from a state of emergency despite the rolling protests at universities having turned violent in recent days.
It is extremely concerning to note that criminality, intimidation and attacks on police members have taken place at some universities, leaving the South African Police Service (SAPS) members deployed with no option but to respond with a degree of force in order to stabilise the situation, he told a media briefing here.
He was updating the media on policing and security relating to protests at the country’s universities where protesting students have vowed to continue protesting until the government and management at universities commit to free tertiary education.
The government, grappling with a budget deficit of nearly 4.0 per cent of GDP, has capped the 2017 fee increases to 8.0 per cent.
We believe sense will prevail. Stakeholders must also play their part, said {halane, who reiterated the view that the protests had been infiltrated by criminality.
Fresh confrontations broke out between students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on Monday despite a decision by the university council to resume classes Monday.
A group of protesting students continuously disrupted and intimidated those wishing to attend classes on Monday, even chasing them out of classes with sticks. They not only provoked the police but also blockaded traffic in Braamfontein and set a bus alight.
Several other universities also remain closed. At Rhodes University in Grahamstown in Eastern Cape Province, students disrupted classes, flooded premises and emptied rubbish bins.
Five students were arrested at Rhodes while at least 20 students were arrested at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, the capital of Free State Province, in relation to public violence and contravening a court order.
There were also disruptions at the Mahikeng Campus of North West University early Monday morning and students were dispersed by the police. At the Westville campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, police came under constant attack by groups of students who pelted them with rocks with at least two police members sustaining injuries when stoned with rocks.
Phahlane said such behaviour could never be condoned by any law-abiding person and should be condemned. Attacks on law enforcement officials, constitutionally mandated to uphold the laws of the land, can only be described as an attack on the state itself.
Phahlane went on to defend police members deployed to curb the situation saying they had continued to display maximum restraint in the face of severe provocation. Theirs is not an easy task, he said.
They have been called upon to protect lives and property in the middle of a dispute that is not of their making. Many, if not most of them are parents and to be attacked, insulted and assaulted by the youth who they only want to protect is a bitter pill to swallow, he added.
We are determined, and have proved to this point that our members will exercise restraint so that no student should be harmed while we attempt to maintain stability and safety in our country. We remain resolute in this regards.
In order to ensure peace and stability and to protect the life and property of people of South Africa, the police will enforce the Dangerous Weapons Act of 2013 and the Regulation of Gatherings Act of 1993 decisively, he said.
Phahlane also called on the members of the media to report “objectively”, without resorting to sensationalism, exacerbating a situation which is volatile. He urged student leaders not to incite violence.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK