USE OF BRUTAL POLICE FORCE IN STUDENTS’ FEE PROTEST UNACCEPTABLE

20 OCTOBER 2015

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip strongly condemns the use of brutal police force to clampdown on students who are protesting against rising tuition fees, specifically at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town in the Western Cape.

We are shocked and disappointed that students at these two universities have been arrested and met with brute police force for legitimately raising matters that have a serious impact on their future, as others have done in other provinces such as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.

In other provinces, such as at the University of Witwatersrand in Gauteng and Rhodes University in Grahamstown, no police force has been deployed against students who are also holding similar protests against increasing fees. It is for this reason that we are taken aback that it is only the DA-run Western Cape where students’ protests are being met with brutal police force and some have even been arrested and charged with various offences.

This clearly confirms that the attitude of the police in the Western Cape is different from those displayed at Wits in Gauteng and Rhodes in the Eastern Cape. The behaviour of the police in the Western Cape is reflective of the province’s racial dynamics and anti-black sentiment. It is beggars belief that, in this day and age, White students had to form a chain of defence around Black students to protect them against the escalating force of the police.

 We call for restrained policing In the Western Cape in relation to students’ protests and urge the police to immediately desist from using any force against students who are demonstrating against fees increments. The heavy-handedness and the aggression displayed by the police in the Western Cape around #FeeMustFall is unacceptable and should stop.

We also call for the arrested students to be released with immediate effect and for the frivolous charges against them to be dropped.  There is no crime that the students can be accused of or may have committed by merely demanding affordable education. Police and arrests may only take place as last resort for a tense and violent situation that is beyond the competence of the campus security.

We wish to pledge our solidarity with the arrested students, whose only crime can only be to fight for affordable education and demand and immediate end to the unacceptable use of police force against students. The managements at these institutions must engage immediately with students rather than use police force to quell legitimate protests.

The DA cannot pass the buck on this matter by claiming that they have no competence over the deployment of police in this province.  In terms of section 206 of the constitution, each province has to monitor police conduct and to oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service. This is the same section that was cited by the DA when it motivated for the institution of a commission of inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha at a cost of R13 million. It is therefore opportunistic and hypocritical that when it suits their political agenda, the DA claims competence over the police and suddenly washes their hand when the narrative is negative.

We support the legitimate and valid protests of students across the country for affordable fees.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 20 October 2015