Dear CUT Community

Management has taken note of and acted upon a violent incident in which a CUT employee was attacked by a group of students earlier this morning (Friday, 11 February 2022).

Management condemns this violent attack that took place on campus as barbaric and needless and completely foreign to the very ethos of what CUT espouses. Given that university Protection Services officials are not trained to deal with violent student behaviour, this matter has been reported to law enforcement agencies so that perpetrators are brought to book and face the might of the law. Instead, CUT Protection Services employees are required to offer a service to all students, staff and visitors that demonstrate diligent care and empathic protection.

As I have indicated yesterday, we remain committed to constructive engagements with all stakeholders to address challenges our students are facing. There are students, other employees and parents who may have been treated with disrespect and threatened by these students who have been disrupting normal academic processes on the Bloemfontein Campus.

Students and employees are urged to report such treatment to the offices of Registrar and Senior Director: Human Resources who will receive such reports and initiate prompt action.

While the university remains committed to advancing the development of future leaders in this country through providing holistic education, violence has no place in the character of this university. I urge our students to desist from any form of violence as a means of resolving conflict. We urge our student leaders to engage with Management on any matters of concern in order to resolve any perceived impasse through constructive engagement and persuasive reasoning. The only way of resolving our problems is through engagement with integrity and mutual respect, amongst ourselves.

Furthermore, we wish to provide confirmation to that the following countervailing measures have been implemented as a means of ensuring the safety of all our students, employees and assets:

1. The deployment of crowd control specialists, effective on Saturday morning, 12 February 2022;
2. Today (Friday, 11 February 2022) we secured an urgent interdict in the Free State High Court against the respondents cited in the Court Order; and
3. Consequence management will be implemented against students who have already been positively identified, as well as those who will still be positively identified as having participated in the unlawful activity that transpired over the past two days on the Bloemfontein Campus.

On behalf of Management, I wish to express my regret to our employees and particularly those colleagues who were physically, emotionally and possibly psychologically affected by this incident. These colleagues are encouraged make use of the Employee Wellness Services currently being provided by Careways (toll-free from landline 0800 004 770, SMS your name to 31581, care@carewaysgroup.com).

Kind regards / Ditumediso tse mofuthu / Vriendelike groete

Prof. Alfred Ngowi
Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal

Download the aVC Communique, 11 February 2022 (PDF)

Download the Court Order, 11 February 2022 (PDF)