Anele Nzimande was participating in a night sit-in at UJ’s Madibeng building, with around 15 students and more workers. Campus security arrived. They called the Fidelity guards, who told everyone to leave. Nzimande said the protest was peaceful, but UJ security told students they would “die tonight”.

“As we were packing up our books, Fidelity guards began assaulting students. I was trying to defend one of the students, Sandile, when I was slapped by Fidelity guards. I was pushed down the stairs and punched in the face. Since that day, Fidelity guards have followed me around campus, waited for me outside my residence room, recorded me on video and taken photographs of me, which I regard as an attempt to intimidate me and as an affront to my right to privacy and dignity,” said Nzimande. “I have seen Fidelity guards beat, punch, kick, push, throttle, and pepper-spray people.”

Nzimande was active in last year’s #FeesMustFall campaign at UJ and the incident, recorded in a report on human rights violations during protests, occurred in November 2015.

During protests this week at UJ, students, staff and the media have said guards from Fidelity Security, who have been stationed on campus since protests began last year, have used indiscriminate, unnecessary force and have made intimidating threats. It follows almost a year of well-documented abuses by the guards, raising questions as to why the university has not removed or replaced its private security officers.

Wednesday saw violent clashes between students and guards across UJ’s Kingsway and Doornfontein campuses. The media were barred from Kingsway, but Daily Maverick was able to access the campus. After earlier clashes with guards, we saw a small group of students singing next to UJ’s fountain. Guards with helmets, shields and batons lined up in front of them. To disperse the students, they used their shields to shove the group towards the campus entrance. As students ran, private security, not in riot gear, sprayed demonstrators and onlookers indiscriminately with pepper spray.

Photo: On Wednesday, Security guards forced protesters to leave the UJ campus. Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee.

Dr Shahid Mathee, a lecturer in the department of religious studies, had come to monitor events and support students calling for free education. He was returning to his office when he saw students running from the fountain. After most of the students had run away or been pushed out of campus, he was standing by the entrance to the A-Ring 1 building with a few others when a guard pushed one of them and told them to leave.

“I spoke to the bouncer, asking him not to harm people. He spoke back harshly, telling me to move. I said to him that I wanted to return; he refused,” said Mathee.

He followed the order and moved peacefully forward while still trying to speak to “the bouncer”. Mathee wasn’t looking when he was first hit with pepper spray, but he saw the Fidelity guard as he kept spraying while moving towards him. The guard used two cannisters at once directly on his face. Students, parents, and police officers from the nearby graduation ceremony watched in shock. The guards aggressively approached anyone nearby, until an SAPS officer told them to relax.

As demonstrating students and others standing nearby were forced onto the street, guards closed the gates. Students threw rocks over the fence at the riot security guards and pelted a bus. The “bouncers” – Fidelity guards who don’t have riot gear, who wear black, are imposing and are normally stationed at campus entrances – pursued the students. A student, who feared victimisation if named, said the guards warned female demonstrators they would rape them “for acting clever” and suggested they would be targeted if they walk alone.

On the street, guards and students threw rocks at each other. The Fidelity guards also tried to intimidate journalists. Photojournalist John Wessels was hit with a rock. It’s unclear whether it came from students or the guards.

As Nzimande’s story shows, allegations of abuse by Fidelity Security guards hired by UJ have been continuing for almost a year. In October 2015, Daily Maverick saw guards lock the gates on protesting students and engage them in a stone-throwing fight.

The Right to Protest: An account of human rights violations during #FeesMustFall, #OccupyUJ and #EndOutsourcing protests at the University of Johannesburg was published in December last year. It documents and provides sources to examples of abuse committed by private security guards and police.

The report reads:

“Their conduct included hitting, punching, slapping, kicking and throttling protesters; using pepper spray; beating protesters with batons; stripping their clothes off; threatening, intimidating, or harassing students that were involved in the protests; intimidating the protesters’ legal representative and interfering with her work; and at least in one case, carrying a weapon loaded with live ammunition during a student protest.”

Fidelity Security CEO Wahl Bartmann on Thursday told Daily Maverick that guards deployed to UJ are equipped and trained to deal professionally with the situation. He noted there was an interdict against protests and denied allegations that guards had intimidated students. It was “definitely not the case” that his guards had thrown stones, he said, and denied they had pepper-sprayed students and staff. Bartmann appeared to be talking about Fidelity’s protest response unit rather than the “bouncers”. Wednesday night, he said, “was very, very rough”.

He continued: “We use minimum force.”

According to reports, a march from Kingsway to UJ’s Doornfontein campus was peaceful on Wednesday afternoon. Chaos erupted when students arrived. PowerFM journalist Tehillah Niselow reported: “Students, journalists and even police were the target of UJ’s private security guards as they burst through the gates of the Doornfontein campus carrying rocks and sticks. Students ran up the embankment towards Joe Slovo Drive and begged the students to protect them as SAPS themselves appeared to be fighting the security guards, who then went on to hunt journalists and students in the streets of Doornfontein, pepper-spraying and beating them.”

Students and journalists were attacked by the private security guards, reportedly the same “bouncers” who were at UJ’s Kingsway campus before police dispersed protesters.

Bafana Nzimande, a multimedia reporter at eNCA, said he was at a BP garage near the Doornfontein campus when Fidelity guards came with sticks and rocks and assaulted students.

“Many fled the scene. One stood his ground. He was pushed towards [eNCA intern Thapelo Moshope] and I. We ended up being surrounded by guards,” said Nzimande. His camera was around his neck, recording. Moshope was holding a camera and the guards focused on him. “They didn’t want to be filmed. That’s why they started assaulting Thapelo. One guard had a rock in his hand. He slammed Thapelo with that rock. Thapelo was bleeding and we begged for mercy,” said Nzimande. “They left us and we rushed to Hillbrow hospital for treatment.” Moshope needed four stitches.

Daylin Paul, a photojournalist, was also at the Doornfontein campus. At some point, he said, security stormed out of the varsity and attacked people indiscriminately with poles and batons. He was pepper-sprayed twice. The guards surged towards a group five or six of journalists who were headed down an embankment and were told to sit down. Paul resisted and was hit in the back of the head. He was wearing a protective cap. Other journalists forced to sit were pepper-sprayed and slapped.

Journalists sometimes face hostility during demonstrations, including from #FeesMustFall supporters, but are generally given more leeway by protesters and police to do their work. The treatment by private security guards on Wednesday towards journalists, who have the voice to expose them, raises serious questions about how they treat mostly voiceless students. In addition to the alleged abuse during protests, non-protesting students have said the guards are aggressive and harass them, particularly female students, during their last year posted on campus.

The ongoing violence at UJ was reflected recently at Wits. Students wanting to access Senate House were blocked by private security outside the Great Hall. A battle ensued with students and security throwing rocks. Windows at the entrance of the Great Hall were broken. After the much-publicised fight, Wits reportedly removed the security company involved and reduced the visibility of private security guards on campus. UJ has seen a year of such violence but continued with its policy on private security.

UJ Professor Jane Duncan authored The Right to Protest report along with UJ Associate Professor Pier Paolo Frassinelli. “I really find it unconscionable that the private security guards are still be deployed in the way that they are as we warned about their misconduct over a year ago,” said Duncan on Thursday. “It suggests a lack of resolve on the part of the university to address this issue. A mooted enquiry into last year’s incidents is taking too long to be established. The problem is that student attitudes have hardened in that time, which has contributed to the escalation of protests.”

Frassinelli said he condemned violence and destruction. “I also believe that all staff and student working at universities must indeed be protected from violence and intimidation. It is increasingly clear, however, that the heavy presence of private security at many campuses has the effect not to mitigate but to exacerbate violence,” he added. “If there are episodes of criminality these need to be dealt with as such, but what is happening on many of our campuses is the traumatisation of entire academic communities.”

UJ Vice Chancellor Ihron Rensburg went on a media offensive on Thursday. He said UJ does “deeply regret” the actions of private security, who had no authority to leave the campus. He apologised for Wednesday’s violence and said UJ was meeting with the private security company to compile a report. Journalists are allowed on campus, he said, as long as they are accompanied by security officers.

Rensburg said it was for the media’s safety but other university officials have said journalists were barred because the university believed protesting students were responding to media attention.

“Without the private security we would not be able to contain the situation… the university would be shut down,” Van Rensburg was quoted as saying. He said private security was necessary to continue studies for the large majority of non-protesting students. UJ spokesman Herman Esterhuizen said he was unable to respond to Daily Maverick questions on private security and we could not connect with the university CEO’s office before deadline.

Van Rensburg’s apology, without proper explanation, rings hollow. Why has UJ kept the Fidelity guards despite repeated reports of abuse over the last year? Has the university received complaints about the guards and what consequences have come as a result? How much have private security companies been paid over the last year and what has UJ done to ensure guards protect students, staff and property while causing minimum harm?

The confusion and lack of communication from UJ was further evident on Thursday as Van Rensburg told a journalist from another publication there was another private security company other than Fidelity operating on campus. He didn’t explain who was doing what.

After a year of documented abuses and a day of violence, private security guards were still stationed at UJ’s Kingsway campus on Thursday. The situation has, as predicted, escalated, with reports claiming buildings at UJ’s Bunting Road campus have been set alight. DM

Photo: Private security guards from the Fidelity group throw stones at protesting students at the University of Johannesburg. (Ihsaan Haffejee for GroundUp)