New Age2.png EFF makes the DA withdraw the Metro Police Meanwhile another UJ auditorium burns Kutullo Madisha, The New Age, Johannesburg, 30 September 2016 At a time when police have their hands full with student protests, the city of Johannesburg has "withdrawn the assistance provided by members of Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) to the South African Police Service (SAPS) during student protests". Johannesburg member of the mayoral committee for finance Dr Rabelani Dagada, said during the city's monthly council meeting on Tuesday, that the DA caucus had agreed that the JMPD should not be deployed on university campuses. This followed a motion raised by EFF councillor David Mabunda, who had asked for a debate on "a matter of urgent public importance". "We are very concerned about the conduct of police officers when monitoring protests, in particular the #FeesMustFall protests. "We have observed the full might of police deployment at Wits University that included JMPD and other private security forces," he said. However, the move to weaken policing at volatile institutions in the province has triggered a sharp response from the ANC. ANC Johannesburg region spokesperson Jolidee Matongo said the newly elected mayor was bowing to pressure from the EFF to withdraw the JMPD. "Mashaba was trying to score political points from the EFF who got him into power that made the demand that metro police must be withdrawn. "They made a demand through the motion they put on Tuesday," Matongo said. JMPD now a political tool Matongo said the actions of the mayor, Herman Mashaba, were tantamount to using the JMPD as a political tool at a time when all law enforcement agents were stretched. Yesterday a fire broke out in the auditorium at the University of Johannesburg's Bunting Road campus where tensions remain high. "Mashaba can't instruct the police. He does not have the power or jurisdiction to instruct the police. Police have a constitutional duty," Matongo said. "If they are saying there is a problem in the way police are treating the students, they should address the key issues." Metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said that even though the JMPD would mostly focus on traffic control, it would not ignore any criminal activities taking place in its presence. "If any officer has attacked someone, a formal complaint should be lodged and investigations will be conducted," he said. The EFF maintains that Wits University student Sitholephi Makhanya was injured in the leg after being attacked by JMPD officers. President Zuma President Jacob Zuma again called for calm at all universities across the country. "We urge the students to exercise their rights in a responsible manner. "They must respect law enforcement officers. They must also respect the rights of others who are not taking part in the protests," Zuma said. Meanwhile, Wits University students will know by the end of today whether or not classes will resume next week as the results of the poll conducted yesterday are expected to be released. Deputy vice-chancellor at Wits Prof Tawana Kupe said the institution was at a sensitive stage and if academic activities did not continue by next week it would lead to a "precarious" situation. [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/30092016/epaperpdf/1.pdf __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 14202 (20160930) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yclsa-eom-forum/003e01d21add%2430ac79b0%2492056d10%24%40com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
