The Mthatha High Court is hearing an urgent application over the eviction of students from Walter Sisulu University’s (WSU) Mthatha campus
This follows a notice from campus management to the University Council on Wednesday evening, instructing students to vacate the premises by 4 pm today (Friday).
The eviction order comes in the wake of violent student protests that broke out on Tuesday morning, leading to the tragic death of a male student.
Unrest at the NMD campus resulted in the death of one person and the injury of several others.
[LIVE NOW] The Mthatha High Court is currently sitting to hear a case involving the eviction of students from Walter Sisulu University in Eastern Cape. Tune in to SABC News Channel 404 or go to to get all updates as they happen. pic.twitter.com/eFdHbjWcBg
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 18, 2025
The Walter Sisulu University SRC’s legal team has approached the court to file an urgent application to halt the eviction of students at the university after the university resolved that the temporary closure of campuses was the only solution.
Both the Nelson Mandela Drive and Zamukulungisa Heights campuses will be temporarily closed. SRC president Balungile Madikizela explains, “Worried that there may be an all-time low academic performance, we then decided to protect our constituency’s right. After reaching this decision, we did indeed contact our legal team to assist us. They then submitted an urgent court interdict to the judge. The judge has since communicated back to us to say that today at 6 pm, they are willing to listen to us. There will be a court sitting. However, until the resolutions of that court sitting are communicated, they do not expect the university or their deployed security personnel to forcefully evict any students from campus.”
The President of the WSU Convocation, Dr Lunga Mantashe, expressed disappointment over the breakdown in dialogue between students and the university leadership.
“It’s regrettable that both the students and the university failed to find one another halfway, leading to the courts’ intervention,” said Mantashe.
