VIDEO: Footage of UJ student attack emerges

Students from the University of Johannesburg have refuted the university’s statement that only two students were allegedly attacked after attempting to occupy Vice Chancellor Professor Irhon Rensburg’s office.

An engineering student from UJ alleged that there were 12 students who were attacked by private security guards hired by the university on 2 November.

Watch as UJ students are involved in a physical altercation with the university’s security guards:

“We were being peaceful but still we were attacked. I suffered a cut on my forehead during the scuffle with the security guards,” he said. He added that the students who were participating in the protest wanted to show their support for the workers. The student added that he was throttled by a security guard and that there were other women, who in their attempt to stop the security guards, were slapped and verbally abused.

“After we were forcefully removed from the reception area I saw the security guards pointing at me, saying that they wanted to get me. I was scared of what they would do to me so I ran down the stairs and passages to escape another beating,” he said.

Mpho Letlape, the deputy Vice Chancellor of Strategic services at UJ, said that the altercation was caused by students and workers who occupied the office park at around 11.30pm. “We instructed the security guards to remove them as it was an illegal act and an illegal occupation,” Letlape said. She refuted that there was violence involved on the part of the security guards but admitted that the security guards forcefully removed the students.

She pointed out that since the incident no student has come forward with injuries as they had threatened to log complaints against the security guards. “We have a video of the incident and we did not see any violence taking place,” she added. However, she declined to share the video.

Letlape added that students who were peacefully protesting would face no disciplinary action from the university but those who damaged property and hurt personnel would face action from UJ.

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