UCT’s SRC vice riles gays

A Facebook status update written by UCT’s black SRC vice-president Zizipho Pae has sparked massive uproar on social media and the student community in Cape Town.

Many interpreted Pae’s status as being related to the US Supreme Court ruling last week requiring states to allow same-sex marriages.

”We are institutionalising and normalising sin! Sin. May God have mercy on us,” Pae wrote.

Her statement came two days after the US court’s decision which effectively legalised same-sex marriage in all 50 states in the country.

Pae’s comment has left the mostly white lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community seething.

Source: IOL

Black students burn 18 vehicles on Pretoria campus

Protesting students of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), formerly the Pretoria Technikon, have set alight at least 18 cars belonging to the institution, police said on Saturday.

Several campuses shutdown as Tshwane University of Technology clamps down on violence Several campuses shutdown as Tshwane University of Technology clamps down on violence

TUT students Photo: SABC
TUT students Photo: SABC

“Cases of malicious damage to property and public violence have been opened,” spokeswoman Lt-Col Khensani Magoai said.

The cars were set alight at TUT’s Soshanguve campus on Friday night, as students continued with the protest action which has been on going for almost two weeks. Magoai said there were no injuries and no one had been arrested. She said police were monitoring the situation.

The protests have seen the closure of the institution on a number of occasions and the suspension of the Student Representative Council (SRC).The suspension was lifted on Wednesday, following talks between the two parties.

On September 17, it was agreed that the strike would be suspended and lectures would resume. Students were protesting against the lack of funds in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter was not immediately available for comment. She said the institution would release a statement. The SRC were not immediately available to comment.