Cape Town – Tensions remained high at Cape Town’s universities where a wave of fresh arson attacks were confirmed on Monday, a report said.
According to the report, the protests over tuition fees which first flared up in Johannesburg in October have spread around the country and Cape Town has been particularly hard-hit.
Police confirmed that three more students were arrested at the University of the Western Cape after two residences were attacked.
The report added that the campus was closed and all activities including the December graduation ceremonies have been suspended.
However, the university said it planned to allow students to write their year-end examinations at alternative locations.
“The university has in an attempt to ensure the safety of our students, management, other senior academics from the faculties, considered alternative ways to allow students to complete this academic year,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch University, which is located near Cape Town, has been saluted for its decision to adopt English as its medium of instruction in favour of Afrikaans.
The university, which was also rocked by violent protests in October, has always been viewed as a bastion of the Apartheid-era government.
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“We welcome this important change to the controversial language policy as a step in the right direction.
“It is important to us that such a change is happening at Stellenbosch University.
“The university has for years been regarded as an enclave of white Afrikaner nationalism where racial discrimination, exclusionary policies and resistance to transformation are accepted,” it said. (PANA/NAN)