CR Swart statue vandalised at UFS

Bloemfontein - Students and members of the EFF in red T-shirts vandalised and set alight the statue of CR Swart at the University of the Free State on Tuesday.

Students and EFF members sang and chanted for the CR Swart statue to fall, SA Students Congress regional chairperson Bongani Slovo Zwane said.

"Things got completely out of hand. Sasco has always been fighting against the system of white supremacy and we condemn the burning of buildings and breaking of windows. At the end of it all we must go back to class," Ntuli said.

He said racism had always been a problem at the university.

A Varsity Cup match in Bloemfontein between the University of the Free State and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University was called off on Monday night after protesters disrupted it by walking onto the field. Fights broke out when spectators ran to confront them.

Zwane said they did not know how EFF members and workers had got onto the campus. 

Swart was the last Governor-General of Union of South Africa from 1960 to 1961 and the first State President of the Republic of South Africa from 1961 to 1967.

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.