Wits student leader shot nine times

Former Wits SRC president Shaeera Kalla has been shot in the back by police nine times with rubber bullets. Details are still sketchy at this points but according to the Wits SRC tweets on their Twitter page, Kalla had her hands up before she was shot on 20 October.

Students were marching around campus when chaos broke out. According to sources, students overturned a car that was parked close to the biology department.

Student leader Busiswe Seabe was put on oxygen after she inhaled tear gas that was thrown at the students and scores of other students have suffered injuries and have been taken to the Wits campus health clinic for treatment.

Both Seabe and Kalla have been at the forefront of the protest for free education since it began on 19 September after the Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande that varsities could raise their fees up to eight per cent. The protest has seen police and students violently clash with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets used to disperse students. The protest has seen dozens, mostly students, being treated for various injuries sustained.

Secretary general of the Wits SRC Fasiah Hassan said in a video on Twitter that she was not sure how many times Kalla was shot at but that she was ok. “No one at the Great Hall had rocks or even sticks, no one has any weaponry and we are hoping that this situation does not happen in which students and student leaders are shot at close range,” she said.

Wits University Senior Communications Officer, Shirona Patel has confirmed the incident but a formal media statement has not yet been released. 

See the tweets below:

https://twitter.com/WitsSRC/status/789064087485476864

https://twitter.com/WitsSRC/status/789052843030437888

https://twitter.com/WitsSRC/status/789051651017543681

https://twitter.com/WitsSRC/status/789047936852303872

https://twitter.com/WitsSRC/status/789051482926710784