WATCH: Nzimande calls for dialogue at universities, not police involvement
The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande on Monday called on students to resolve conflicts through dialogue which should not require the involvement of the police.
Nzimande met with the Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko and acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane at Wits to discuss security on university campuses and the role the South African Police Service in violent protests at the institutions.
"We would wish that all conflicts and disagreements at universities should be resolved through dialogue and peacefully without the need for the involvement of private security or the police, that is our first prize," Nzimande said.
Nzimande said there was a fringe group that wanted to impose its views through violence.
"We have a duty to ensure that, as government, life and limb and property is protected...involvement of security forces is not our first choice or the best way we would like to deal with things," he said.
He added that there were historical artefacts on the Wits campus that need to be protected and they had to share why it was dangerous to destroy property in some of South Africa's institutions.
"We saw just a few of the things that are housed here and one of those are the original court records of the Rivonia Trial including the draft by President Nelson Mandela when he was preparing his famous speech in Rivonia," Nzimande said.
A group of student gathered outside the William Cullen Library at Wits where the ministers met, where they heckled Nzimande when he addressed the media.
Edited by Suné du Toit