Cheering heard in the background of videoclips made when a cafeteria at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College campus in Durban went up in flames.
|||Durban - A cafeteria at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College campus in Durban went up in flames on Monday night.
Pictures and video clips of the flames, with cheering voices in the background, were posted on Facebook by residents.
According to Facebook posts there had been commotion at the campus during the afternoon. However, no link between trouble on campus and the fire had been established at the time of publication.
UKZN spokesman, Lesiba Seshoka, said: “The fire was extinguished by University Risk Management Services (RMS). The cause has not yet been established. An investigation is currently under way.”
He said RMS and public order police were on Monday night on the campus monitoring the situation.
The fire comes after the closing of the campus last week in the wake of rioting linked to the fees must fall campaign.
Deputy president of the Howard College student representative council, Sunshine Myende, said: “Student leadership does not know what happened and distances itself from what happened.”
She also said the SRC did not believe that burning infrastructure was a solution to resolving issues they had, but that problems should be resolved through negotiations.
Shocked students milled around the cafeteria this morning, taking in the extent of the fire damage.
The tables in the outside seating area lay charred among other burned debris.
Much of the damage was to the outside of the cafeteria.
Staff could be seen packing away equipment and supplies inside.
The Mercury