GRAHAMSTOWN - 5 RHODES STUDENTS SPEND WEEKEND BEHIND BARS

Five Rhodes University students spent most of their weekend behind bars after being arrested on charges ranging from assault to malicious damage to property after numerous incidents on the campus.

Two of the students allegedly brawled with campus security guards early on Saturday morning, while a third allegedly later assaulted a woman police officer.

Police spokeswoman Brigadier Sally de Beer yesterday confirmed only that four male students and one female student would appear in court today on charges relating to malicious damage to property, assault and crimen injuria (unlawfully and intentionally impairing someone’s dignity).

She said she could not immediately confirm whether or not the incidents were related to the fee protests.

Three of the students facing assault charges, whose names are known to the Daily Dispatch, are also facing contempt of court allegations in relation to protests on campus.

The three students are to be charged with assault in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court today.

Two of them were reportedly part of a group that insulted and brawled with campus security guards coming on to duty early on Saturday morning. The third allegedly later assaulted a female police officer. the officer was reportedly treated at the local hospital and discharged.

De Beer said windows on campus had also been damaged during Friday night.

Meanwhile, Rhodes has applied to the Grahamstown High Court to find 18 students guilty of contempt of court for violating an April interim interdict.

The interdict prohibits students and other protesters from unlawful behaviour, including kidnap, assault, intimidation, and disrupting administrative and academic processes.

According to papers before the Grahamstown High Court, the 18 students had, over September, been behind disruptions of lectures and tutorials, intimidating staff and students, and disruption of library facilities and residences on campus.

In an affidavit, Rhodes registrar Dr Steve Fourie sets out a detailed breakdown of how each of the 18 had engaged in unlawful activities on campus in violation of the interdict.

Attached to the court papers are numerous confirming affidavits, photographs and a reference to CCTV footage capturing particular incidents showing, what he says, are students acting in contempt of the court order.

Because a finding of contempt of court can result in imprisonment in South Africa, even in civil proceedings there is an onus on Rhodes to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the students are guilty.

The incidents outlined in Fourie’s affidavit include one in which students had disrupted a meeting between Rhodes law dean Rosaan Kruger and acting chair of the Human Rights Commission Advocate Mohamed Shafie Ameermia and two other commissioners. The commissioners had had to be escorted off campus for their own safety, said Fourie.

The protesters had also set off the fire alarm and barricaded the law faculty.

The university outlines numerous other incidents, including the storming of the main administration building, barricading of roads, the intimidation of catering staff and disruptions of meals in dining halls, and incitement on social media to damage property.

Rhodes University’s attorney Owen Huxtable yesterday confirmed the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri) had entered a notice to oppose the contempt proceedings on behalf of the students.

VIA - dispatchlive.co.za