Wescol student leaders charged with incitement of violence

The president and secretary general of Wescol College SRC have been charged with incitement of violence after students looted a college building on Wednesday 18 January. Mantshadi Tsotesti, and the secretary general, Gladstone Malaza were not present during the protests outside the school premises on Wednesday. As Wescol students joined others throughout the country in protest, there was no one in the college to reply to their demands. One of the grievances was the dismissal of one of the lecturers. ‘We arrived at around 11:00 and a policeman informed us that the students were retaliating against the teacher’s dismissal,’ said Tsotesti. He and Malaza appeared in court on Thursday 19 January but have not been arrested. The Wescol students’ protests go back to 2015. The latest unrest was sparked by the fourth NEC meeting of the SA Further Education and Training Student Association (Safetsa) in Sandton on 8 December 2016. Members discussed a number of critical issues that directly affect students in the technical and vocational education and training (TVet) space, particularly children of the working class and the poor. These included delays in the issuing of results and pending certificates since 2012, insufficient national student financial aid scheme (NSFAS) funding and delays in accommodation and transport allowances, extremely poor infrastructure development with no funding model, unqualified lecturers and student victimisation.