{"id":871071,"date":"2026-08-20T10:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871071"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:35:33","slug":"university-shutdown-in-south-africa-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/871071\/university-shutdown-in-south-africa-escalates\/","title":{"rendered":"University shutdown in South Africa escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The shutdown of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has escalated to direct government intervention, with the Department of Higher Education and Training stepping in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, requested that a team from the university education branch work with CPUT to facilitate discussions between the university and student leadership groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This follows the university being immediately shut down after an arson attack on its Bellville campus, causing significant disruptions to teaching and learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The arson attack came as the university has experienced disruptions due to student dissatisfaction with CPUT&#8217;s proposed 2027 financial plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plan proposed changes to how historical debt would be handled and several other key issues, which student bodies raised concerns over in a memorandum sent to the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement, the Department of Higher Education and Training condemned the attacks on the university and said that students should make use of proper channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Ministry condemns unequivocally the destruction of university property, violence, intimidation and any conduct that places students, staff and other members of the university community at risk,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Minister urges students to use legitimate channels through which to raise concerns affecting their access to higher education, affordability and living and learning conditions.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Department&#8217;s team has been dispatched to handle several functions, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>facilitate structured and constructive engagement between the parties;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>establish the verified facts underlying the respective grievances;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>identify matters that can be resolved immediately;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>assist the parties to agree to a clear and time-bound process for addressing outstanding matters; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>support urgent efforts to restore learning, teaching and essential university services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe immediate priority is to bring the parties around the table, establish the facts and find a way forward that allows the academic programme to resume,&#8221; Manamela said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Students have a right to raise legitimate concerns about their access to higher education. Those concerns must be heard and addressed through constructive engagement.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Equally, no student or staff member should have to fear for their safety or be prevented from exercising their right to study or work.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minister also said that the withdrawal of the draft financial plan would be an important opportunity for the university and student leaders to reset their engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that future engagements should focus on resolving immediate issues, identifying problems that require further consideration, and planning to address them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLeadership at the University and among students carries a responsibility to find solutions. Public statements and actions that inflame tensions will not assist us in resolving the issues before us,\u201d Manamela said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Higher Education and Training has announced plans to intervene in the CPUT shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":870829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2090357179270275127","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2181482196005513","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17886040671457325","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26233,26211,21260,26232],"class_list":["post-871071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-buti-manamela","tag-cput","tag-he-department-of-higher-education-and-training-dhet","tag-university-protests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871071"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871090,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871071\/revisions\/871090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}