JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – One person died on Wednesday after police fired rubber bullets at a group of protesters at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, police and a student leader said.
The students demand that those who owe the university up to 150,000 rand ($ 9,850) may still register for the new academic year.
The cost of university education, which is banned for many black students, has become a symbol of the inequalities that endured more than two decades after the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Wits student representative Mpendulo Mfeka said the person shot was not a student. Reuters could not immediately confirm the details of the person killed.
Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubela confirmed the death of a ‘middle-aged man’ in an interview with national radio station SAFM, but did not say who fired the fatal shot.
“We are investigating the circumstances of the incident. The police were in the area of the protest where they were deployed to maintain law and order,” Makhubela said.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said it was investigating the incident.
“The board has sent four investigating officers to investigate the allegations, and the team will also close the crime scene and conduct the investigation, including locating the person with the video footage, identifying eyewitnesses, etc.,” the statement read.
Most students in South Africa are trapped in a group that is widely called the “missing remedy”, those who are not poor enough to be eligible for financial aid, but not rich enough to pay.
Protesting students ventured into the streets of the Braamfontein district, where the university is located.
“They (police) threw stun grenades to try to disperse the protest, but we did not run away, so they started firing rubber bullets,” said Mfeka. “The person who was shot was shot directly in the head.”
The management of Wits University said in a statement that it was concerned about the increase in the situation. Three protesters are said to have been arrested by police and taken to a nearby station, while two student reporters were injured.
In 2016, widespread student protests for free higher education forced temporary closures at a number of South African universities.
($ 1 = 15.2235 rand)
(Reported by Kirthana Pillay and Akhona Matshoba; Written by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mfuneko Toyana; Edited by Hugh Lawson and Chizu Nomiyama)