In a statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday night, the university said: “Students are advised to leave campus immediately for their own safety. All students should leave the campus and return home as it is likely to take a considerable period of time to restore operations.” Students would be given at least a month’s notice of the reopening of the campus. The closure of the campus came after students torched buildings following clashes with security officials from a private company at the institution earlier in the day. It was understood that clashes between security guards and the students began shortly after the campus’s new Student Representative Council (SRC) was appointed in the Great Hall.

Some students later took to Twitter to claim security officials had used live ammunition to disperse the students.

“We have more than five students shot with live ammo now in hospital,” tweeted one person.
Pictures of injured students, some heavily bleeding, made the rounds on social media.

Others tweeted messages of condolences for the student they claimed was killed during the clash.The university however, denied that a fatality had occurred at the campus.

Spokesperson, Koos Degenaar, told News24 the security officials had used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd of protesting students.

Other Twitter posts, however, suggested that a student had been hospitalised after suffering a miscarriage.

Degenaar could later not be reached to confirm the incident.

News24