Port Elizabeth police said three cases of assault were opened at Humewood police station following Monday night's clashes between some students and security personnel at Nelson Mandela University.
The Varsity Cup match between the Madibaz and Maties had to be abandoned when police said people stormed the VIP section at the university stadium, hurling chairs onto the field as the visitors led 19 - nil.
Police spokesperson, Captain Sandra Janse Van Rensburg, said Public Order Police were called in but no arrests were made.
Nelson Mandela University condemned the incident saying there would be further investigation into the matter and the appropriate steps taken.
NMU Director of Sport, Yoliswa Lumka, said “we are extremely disappointed at the actions of a small minority of students (tonight) no matter their grievances”
“Our sincerest apologies to the 90% of students who were there to support the game and to the visitors from Maties. These were not the actions befitting students representing NMU,” Lumka said.
Lumka said they would be “viewing the videotapes of the incident” and would accordingly.
Meanwhile, in a statement on its Facebook page, the SA Students Congress at NMU said; ”The South African Congress wishes to thank all students that came out to support the Madibaz Rugby team. Your support reflects the level of commitment that our students have in making sure that we change the world.”
“The organization wants to thank the Maties for understanding when we were dealing with our internal issues and we wish them safe travels as they going back home. The organisation is happy to know that none of our visitors were affected by the incident,” the Sasco statement continued.
But, Sasco said it was “disappointed by the arrogant behavior in which the director of Sport handled the situation.”
“We believe that she could have done a better job than adding more security and instructing them to assault students. The call from students was a fair and a simple one and it needed no security but constructive engagements,” Sasco said.
“As the organisation we will continue on engaging all relevant stakeholders with regards to the transformation of all departments including the sports department. We will instruct all our deployees in the SRC to attend the MANCO on the 14-March-2018 and raise all these issues.”
