Pretoria – The threat of mass demonstrations and a shutdown at the University of Pretoria loom large, as students involved in last year’s fees protests resist demands to motivate for re-registration.
More than 40 students have been asked to write letters giving reasons why they should be allowed to resume their academic career.
Of those, only 20 had submitted letters and explained why they should be allowed back by Wednesday.
The SA Union of Students condemned the institution’s request for letters.
General secretary Sthembiso Ndlovu said: “We’ll take the fight head-on with UP. There’s no need for those students to write letters as long as they’ve passed their subjects and qualify to continue their studies."
“They’ll continue without writing any letters, or else we’ll declare a total shutdown at the University of Pretoria.”
Ndlovu said the requests for letters was depriving implicated students of their rights to education, and it was an emotional burden to be targeted.
“We told the students not to write those letters because they don’t guarantee their acceptance,” Ndlovu said.
The union’s treasurer-general, Mescheck Mugabe, said students were being victimised.
He vowed that if the university persisted, students would bring the institution to a standstill.
In the letters sent to students arrested during last year’s #FeesMustFAll protests, the university asked for written assurance that students would not be involved in disrupting the institution in 2017.
The deadline for submissions was Monday, and by Wednesday registration for students who were not implicated continued with no disruptions.
Tuks was one of many universities dogged by often violent protests last year, over fees and outsourcing.
The university has made it clear it will not budge from its stance that the students must justify their readmission.
This was despite stinging criticisms levelled against it by student representative bodies.