UNESWA, SANU STUDENTS GO ON RAMPAGE

MANZINI – Mayhem!

This is exactly what occurred yesterday when students in all three campuses of the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) and SANU went on a rampage, following the arrest of Colani Maseko. Maseko is the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) and is also a student at the Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU). He was reportedly taken by police officers yesterday morning just towards his campus. Thereafter, word spread that he had been taken by the police as some people on social media platforms claimed that he was abducted. This led to the SANU students organising themselves and marching to the Manzini Police Regional Headquarters (RHQ) to demand the release of their leader.

Blocked

The students blocked traffic as they walked for about four kilometers from SANU to the RHQ. They arrived at their intended destination (RHQ) at about 9:20am. Upon arrival at the RHQ, the SANU students demonstrated on the road while their representative met with senior police officers, where they demanded answers as to why Maseko and a colleague, Sibusiso Nkwanyane, were taken in. The students also demanded to see them before they returned to campus. In response to the demands by the students, the police said Maseko and Nkwanyane were taken in to be questioned about incidents which took place during the unrest. They said if they found that they were not linked to any of the incidents, they would be released.

Arrested

However, it was also mentioned that in the event it was discovered that they had a case to answer, they would be arrested and charged. “This is part of an ongoing investigation into incidents which took place during the unrest and there are a lot of people who have been asked to assist us with information about the occurrences. Others are yet to be called in,” the police said. The senior officers also said they had to take Maseko in because they invited him to come to them, but he failed to do so. The officers said the investigation could not be stopped just because someone was not cooperating with them. Thereafter, they told the students that they could not see Maseko and Nkwanyane because the investigations were still ongoing. They added that another challenge was that they were not at the RHQ.

After their meeting, the police asked the representatives of the students to tell them to go back to school after being given the responses. The students heeded the message and marched back to the university and there was no confrontation with the police, despite that the law enforcers had called in back-up from the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU).
On the other hand, learners from the three UNESWA campuses wanted to join their counterparts at the RHQ. At Kwaluseni Campus, the students started singing within the institution before flooding the Kwaluseni – Ndlunganye Public Road. They sung political songs as they marched towards Matsapha National High School and Kwaluseni Primary School.
The students reportedly invaded the two schools and ordered the learners to vacate. Thereafter, the students barricaded the road with stones while the pupils from the two schools watched from the sides. This inconvenienced motorists as they had to seek alternative routes which included the MR3 Ndlunganye to Matsapha route.  

However, the blockage of the road was stopped by the police, who diffused the over 300 students by firing tear gas canisters. This led to the students reconvening within the boundaries of their campus. There, they continued to sing political songs while they had closed the main entrance gates, which could be interpreted as an effort to stop the police from gaining access to the institution. The singing of political songs inside the campus continued up until about noon when the UNESWA Senate released a memorandum suspending lessons following the mayhem.

Meanwhile, two vehicles from OSSU were parked directly opposite the main entrance from about 10:30am, while plain-clothes police officers and those in riot gear were standing adjacent to the entrance monitoring the situation. This lasted up until 2pm, when most scholars had vacated the institution following its impromptu closure. Also, at about 11am, pupils from Kwaluseni Central Primary School were captured along the road while others sat at the bus stop at Matsapha High School. On the other hand, at the same time as when SANU students were at the RHQ, scholars from Luyengo Campus gathered and started singing political songs. They reportedly engaged in a vusela before barricading the road just outside the main entrance to their campus. They put rocks along the road while a section purportedly marched to St Christopher’s High School to force pupils out of class. At the school’s gate, the protesters reportedly experienced resistance from the security guards, who wanted to close the gate and secure the perimeter of the school. It was gathered that this led to a pulling and shoving game, which led to the gate falling off its hinges.

Stones

While the protesters were forcing their way into the school, carrying tree branches, some pelted stones at the guard house. This act shattered some of the window panes. The protesters achieved their target as the St Christopher’s High administration suspended classes for the day. This was confirmed by the school’s Deputy, Gugu Mkhonta. She said just when the administration was being informed of an imminent threat by a police officer, the protesters invaded the school. Mkhonta said upon entry, they sang political songs around the school while carrying branches. “Some of the learners were scared following the previous experience they endured when there was the public transport workers’ strike; so we decided to suspend classes for the day,” Mkhonta said.

Meanwhile, she said police eventually came to the school and dispersed the students, who went on to regroup at their campus. Worth noting is that learners from St Christopher’s were found loitering at the bus stop while others were chit-chatting in groups. Also, police officers, at about 11:20am, were found seated along the road while others were in a relaxed mood at the back of one of the police vehicles. It is worth noting that the protests follow a full week of suspended lessons at the UNESWAcampuses institution as students were demanding that their counterparts enrolled for the Post Graduate Certificate Education (PGCE) be funded.  They also wanted to be refunded their residential allowance and tuition allowances set to cover the costs of examinations. The students were seeking their refunds given that they had not sat for examinations.

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