Efforts are underway to reopen Fort Hare University after violent protests broke out at the Eastern Cape-based university last week – causing damages estimated between R300 and R500 million.

The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, has assured students at Free State and Fort Hare Universities that the department, the universities and police are working hard to protect students and staff.

“Our immense priority is to ensure that the academic program resumes within the next week. In a productive meeting with the university…I’ve directed the University Council and management to put in place all necessary measures to reopen the institution and allow teaching and learning to continue, including temporary online modalities where required.

“Students must be able to complete their studies in peace and also in safety. That is non-negotiable. The university must ensure that the academic year is not put in any jeopardy.”

Manamela condemned the violence at the university – describing it as “criminal”.

“The destruction and violence that engulfed the University of Fort Hare in recent days is deeply tragic. A university should be a space of learning, hope and progress. Not one of fear and destruction.

“The intimidation of staff… and the disruption of teaching and learning cannot and will never be justified. What has happened at Fort Hare is not protest. It is criminal. It destroys opportunity, it erodes confidence, but it also undermines the dreams of thousands of young people who look to education as their only chance for a better life.

“We are working closely with the South African Police Service, the Eastern Cape government, and the university security teams to restore come and protect students and staff,” he said at a media briefing on Saturday.

The Minister acknowledged that there are challenges that must be addressed by the institution’s leadership.

“Beyond the immediate crisis, I’ve also asked the University Council to reflect deeply on the number of critical issues when they meet tomorrow. [This] including the state of governance and leadership, the role and status of the SRC [Student Representative Council], the institutional culture of the university, the concerns raised about the Vice Chancellor’s contract and the insourcing of workers, which are some of the issues that are believed to have triggered protest at the university.

“In the coming week, I will respond in greater detail to the feedback received from the ministerial team led by Professor Ahmed Bauer, which has been engaging students, staff, and other stakeholders over the last several days. Their work is central to shaping the next phase of our intervention,” he said.

Fort Hare University temporarily suspended academic activities after several of the buildings on campus, including the main administrative office, were torched in petrol-bomb attacks. Protests started last Monday.

Student leaders are demanding the immediate resignation of Vice Chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, accusing management of poor governance and ignoring their complaints, among other issues. They claim Buhlungu’s contract was unlawfully extended for another five years.

A key dispute with the university is about who represents the students. The protesting students are calling for elections after the university’s management tried to establish an interim Student Representative Council (SRC).

Arrests

Turning to matters at the University of Free State where protests have also erupted, Manamela said some 17 students have been arrested including two who attempted to “throw a petrol bomb in a cubicle that houses security”.

“Now this is criminality. Even if these people are students, they are basically unleashing crime. And I think in both instances…we need to make that distinction between people who are students and… criminals who are also in the process endangering the life of other students and staff.

Safety enhancement

“But we have to approach this in a very systemic way. And that’s why we will be accelerating our engagement internally so that we fix the system internally in order to ensure that we don’t keep students being vulnerable, but also our engagement with the South African Police Service on ways and means within which we can restore order where necessary,” he said.

The Minister emphasised, however, that security responses alone “will not be enough”.

“We have to deal with some of the issues that have resulted in protest in some of the institutions, but also that some of the violence is not even related to protest but it’s related to the fact that institutions are being seen as business enterprises for infrastructure, for tenders, around services, accommodation, and so on and some of this violence is related to that.

“We have to make sure that universities and institutions within the post-school education and training sector return to what they’ve been established for, become places of learning and teaching and not what we have seen in the most recent days,” Manamela said.

The Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF’s) representative Carl Niehaus said he was “profoundly shocked and outraged” by the devastating events that unfolded at the University of Fort Hare, “where a significant portion of the institution was reduced to ruins through what appears to be a deliberate and coordinated act of sabotage involving military-grade incendiary devices. This tragedy is not merely an isolated incident but a stark manifestation of the deepening crisis in our nation’s security apparatus and the failures of institutional leadership. As a revolutionary movement committed to the defence of our people’s right to education and the preservation of our democratic institutions, the EFF condemns this act in the strongest terms and demands immediate accountability and systemic reforms to prevent such horrors from recurring.”

“The EFF reserves its strongest criticism for the arrogant administration and management of the University of Fort Hare, whose mismanagement of the situation has helped to ignite the powder keg that led to the destruction at the university, which will cost billions to repair. Under their watch, simmering tensions—rooted in unresolved student grievances, administrative corruption, and a failure to address campus security—were allowed to explode into full-scale anarchy. Reports indicate that protests over issues like student funding, accommodation shortages, and administrative inefficiencies were met with indifference and heavy-handed tactics, rather than dialogue and resolution. This arrogance has not only alienated the student body but has created fertile ground for external agitators to exploit. The administration has allowed dark forces to drive anarchy, infiltrating legitimate student movements with destructive elements armed with sophisticated weaponry. They must take full responsibility for this disaster, as their leadership failures have transformed a historic institution—once a beacon of anti-colonial resistance and intellectual freedom—into a smouldering ruin,” Niehaus said.