POLICE say they are hunting 37 students from the National University of Lesotho (NUL) who are believed to have been the ringleaders in acts of arson at the Roma campus on Monday night. Police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, confirmed that they were investigating the malicious damage to property at the NUL.
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“We have some light as to who were behind this,” S/Supt Halahala said. “We are right behind them.”
Rogue students torched the NUL’s Netherlands Hall where students sit for exams. They also burnt down the Students Representative Council (RSC) offices and the guardroom.
It is not clear why the students were protesting.
The NUL spokesperson, ’Mamosa Moteetee, said some students were complaining on social media that they had not been given enough time to prepare for examinations.
She said they had also learnt on social media that some students were demanding that the National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) should pay them their allowances for next month.
The university term ends this month but the students were demanding an allowance for June, she said.
“The school almanac shows that all the exams would be written by the 27th of this month,” Moteetee said.
“We do not have a point to keep the students on campus in June.”
Moteetee said they could not identify the perpetrators at the time, saying “they are a faceless group of students”.
“We do not know them,” she said.
When thepost visited the NUL on Tuesday, the Netherlands Hall was being fixed and the debris was being removed so that it could be used for exams.
At the main entrance, the guard-house window panes were broken and vandalised.
Also, the Students Representative Council (SRC) office window panes were broken and phones disconnected.
A trail of charred files and papers were scattered all over the place.
There was debris on the floor signalling that the SRC’s important materials in the office were also destroyed and burnt.
The destruction happened shortly after the Police Special Operations Unit (SOU) members who were on guard at the campus had just left.
The students set on fire the Netherlands Hall that is used for exams. The exams were shifted to other lecture halls on Tuesday morning.
The students also torched the security guard house on the northern part of the university.
Moteetee said the students are split into two factions with the SRC this time fighting in their corner.
She said what has complicated matters however is that the faceless group of students has been driving the protests.
While some students were busy setting the university property ablaze, others were helping douse the flames.
When the police arrived at the campus, it was difficult to identify who were the perpetrators and the innocent ones.
Some students claim that the police indiscriminately assaulted all students who were at the campus even though some were helping put out the fires.
Social media was awash with videos of police officers forcing students to roll in the mud.
At the time of going to print last night, the university had not yet quantified the damage incurred during the protests.
It also did not have statistics of students who were injured.
Moteetee said the Senate is yet to sit down to discuss the matter but the exams are still ongoing.
The NMDS deputy director, Thabo Ntoi, said their agreement stipulates that the students only receive allowances during the course of their studies.
He said all the students will be on vacation starting in June.
Ntoi said exams end this month and there would be no reason to give the students any allowances.
The SRC President Tumo Tsanyane said they do not support what happened at the university this week from “all fronts”.
Tsanyane said they pride themselves in high morality, superior logic and high discipline.
“We respect ourselves and other people,” he said.
He said their mandate is not to cause destruction but to get things done properly.
Staff Reporter
