Students granted bail after violent protests

Eight Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) students - charged with public violence - were all granted bail on Tuesday.

The eight appeared briefly in the Umlazi magistrate's court before they were released. The strife-torn institution suspended the academic programme following student protests which flared up at the Umlazi campus on Monday.

MUT spokesperson Bheki Hlope told TimesLIVE: "All academic activities at MUT have been suspended until further notice. But staff are expected to report for work."

Students blockaded the entrance to the institution with boulders and bricks and allegedly overturned a car.

The university said in an earlier statement that students were demanding fee concessions, a reversal of a fee increment, that the library and clinic hours be extended to 24 hours and that the number of printers across campus be increased.

Management and students had been locked in meetings to discuss the issues at hand.