A Student Was Shot Dead Amid Protests in KwaZulu-Natal

On Monday, students at four universities in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, protested against the financial exclusion of their peers as well as the lack of student accommodation. According to TheCitizen, the private security deployed to manage the protests, shot and killed a student.

READ: Students Have Called For a Shutdown of Universities in KwaZulu-Natal

Mlungisi Madonsela, is the 20-year-old student at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) who was killed yesterday during student protests. It is unclear why the private security used live ammunition and not teargas or rubber bullets as is often the norm during protests. It is also unknown by what authority the private security personnel shot and killed the student.

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Students at the University of the Witwatersrand also clashed with private security yesterday, as they engaged in a peaceful hunger strike to also protest financial exclusion and the lack of accommodation.

South African students have been fighting for the realization of free and decolonised education since the advent of the Fees Must Fall movement in 2015. This, after the ruling African National Congress (ANC) promised free tertiary education to poor students, and even announced in 2017 that it would become a reality.

However, what is becoming painfully clear is that this is baseless politicking on the part of the ANC. And as a result, a youth has died.

Whilst many have condemned the vandalism and violence that at times accompanies student protests, many have equally condemned the often deadly force used by private security and the police in retaliation.