Convinced that university students are being influenced by “regime change agents”, government has instructed the police to act in an “uncompromising way” to enforce the law if protests continue.
According to feedback given to senior security officials, President Jacob Zuma told ministers in a meeting, held on Thursday, that there was an urgent need to bring the violence under control.
Zuma said this was necessary before the academic year came to an end to avoid a far worse security situation at the beginning of next year.
Such a scenario would see new matriculants struggle to secure admission space if current first-year students did not write their exams and, as a result, would have to repeat classes.
Universities South Africa, the organisation representing the country’s tertiary institutions, this week said the damage to universities was currently running at more than R600m.
According to the minutes of Thursday’s meeting, which City Press has seen, in terms of the new security plan, police were expected to “enforce the laws of the country in an uncompromising manner” – and “the criminal justice system should create strong examples of how the law deals with people who venture into acts of vandalism, intimidation and violence”.
More at: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/feesmustfall-zero-tolerance-says-state-security-20161002