Protesters caused millions in damage at NWU

Mahikeng - Protesters caused millions of rands in damage when they set fire to the administrative building at North West University's Mahikeng campus, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

"We are busy clearing up and we will evaluate the damage during the course of the day. The major damage is at the administration building. We estimate that the damage will go up to millions,” Koos Degenaar said.

The campus was quiet on Thursday morning and all academic programmes had been suspended indefinitely. 

Students set fires during clashes with security guards from a private company at the institution on Wednesday. 

The violence broke out shortly after the new Student Representative Council (SRC) was appointed in the Great Hall.

Degenaar could not confirm claims students made on Twitter that security guards shot at students with live ammunition.

"At this stage we are treating it as a rumour spread by student protesters on social media. Security only had guns with rubber bullets and occasionally they used teargas,” he said.

Former SRC president of the Mahikeng campus, Linda Mabengwane, told news channel eNCA that the institution burnt down its own building and blamed the students.

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.