Students went on the rampage at the College of Cape Town, damaging property, flipping a car and tearing out a fence.
|||Cape Town - Students went on the rampage at the College of Cape Town campus in Crawford on Thursday, damaging property, flipping a car and tearing out a fence to access the building.
Students were reportedly protesting against the current transport grant system, according to the provincial Education Department.
Provincial police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said it was reported that students from other campuses arrived in Athlone to demonstrate.
He said no arrests were made, but a case of malicious damage to property was reported. He said he heard that there may have been assaults, but none were reported to police.
Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said it appeared that the students were demanding R6 000 as a transport grant.
Attwell said that according to the national bursary guidelines, a college can pay up to R6 000 in transport grants.
Once the course fees and accommodation costs are covered, the transport grant would depend on specific transport needs - for instance, the distance that students need to travel or where they live, but some of the students were saying they were entitled to the R6 000 regardless, Attwell said.
natasha.prince@inl.co.za
Cape Argus