Some student protesters deliberately provoke police, Khomotso Phahlane says
THE Fees Must Fall movement has been "infiltrated by forces" whose "agenda … is to provoke the police to the point where there are fatalities‚ attempting to create another Marikana"‚ the South African Police Service (SAPS) has said. Acting national commissioner Lt-Gen Khomotso Phahlane said "information at our disposal … suggests that the Fees Must Fall initiative has been infiltrated by forces with agendas not aligned with those who seek free education to advance themselves". His comments come after Marikana — the site of bloody clashes that left 44 dead after a protracted mine wage dispute in 2012 — was earlier this week invoked by both a protesting student leader at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and its vice-chancellor. Wits student representative council (SRC) secretary-general Fasiha Hassan said, "we will not have Habib’s Marikana," after vice-chancellor Adam Habib had told a higher education imbizo: "I have listened to some protesters who say that they want their ...
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