Johannesburg - Former University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Student Representative Council president and #FeesMustFall leader Mcebo Dlamini is allegedly on hunger strike in prison, an activist said on Friday.
This was according to Nkululeko Tselane, one of #FeesMustFall activists and Wits student who visited him on Friday morning together with three others.
The 30-year-old Dlamini was denied bail at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday and remanded in custody until his next appearance on 15 November. Dlamini faces charges of public violence, theft, malicious damage to property and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following his arrest at his Wits residence in the early hours on Sunday.
Department of Correctional Services spokesperson, Manelisi Wolela, dismissed the allegation. “Our regional and management area leadership of the Department has dismissed these allegations as incorrect,” he said.
Tselane, who is the son of the deputy chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, said Dlamini was locked in a single cell at the Johannesburg Correctional Services Center, aka Sun City.
“Mcebo is more or less fine. He says he has been on a hunger strike since Wednesday but I'm not sure what this entails. He is trying to comprehend what is going on outside as our activists are being harassed and shot at,” Tselane said.
On Thursday, Wits student leader Shaeera Kalla was shot 13 times in the back with rubber bullets, allegedly while holding her hands up in the air as she was trying to negotiate with police not to shoot students on campus. Another female student leader, Busisiwe Seabe, was also shot and they are both being treated in hospital.
“Mcebo encouraged us to continue the fight for free decolonised education. He is doing lots of reading since he is in a single cell. And since he is in a single cell, he can be visited only on Fridays,” Tselane said.
Tselane said Dlamini's message was that students should keep fighting for free education so that people do not forget why activists like him were jailed. The Gauteng department of education on Tuesday revealed that the province was paying the fees for Dlamini to pursue a Master of Laws degree at Wits.
African News Agency