Africa-Press – South-Africa. The damage caused by arsonists who set alight a section of the University of Fort Hare’s indoor sports centre on Sunday, has run to millions of rand, the university said on Tuesday, as 13 alleged arsonists briefly appeared in court.
The 10 men and three women briefly appeared in the Alice Magistrate’s court on Tuesday after a fire destroyed a building at the university.
Magistrate Mhlanga Bala postponed the case to Thursday for a formal bail application.
The accused, Mmiselo Mthonjeni, 25, Sifiso Gogi, 25, Ntokozo Mandazi, 22, Mafuza Ningi,18, Noluyolo Madikizela,20, Subatha Qumbisa, 19, Enam Gift Ntlonti, 22, Shalom Fuseni, 21, Khanyi Poswa, 22, Aseza Cingo, 24, Siphe Dike, 22, Sinovuyo Ngqwangi, 19, Asiphile Tshwati, 22, appeared in the dock facing charges of malicious damage to property, housebreaking and theft.
They were ordered to remain in custody.
Students and members of the university’s SRC offered the suspects bags filled with takeaway food, drinks and water.
The accused allegedly ran amok at the Alice campus, burning the foyer of the indoor sports centre, looting the food court, smashing windows of the computer lab and setting furniture alight.
READ | Fort Hare arson was not a student protest but corruption-linked ‘sponsored anarchy’, university says
The university revealed that five of the accused were not students and claimed that the destruction of property was part of a sponsored anarchy campaign by beneficiaries of corruption at the university.
The university added that it would use CCTV footage and interview witnesses to track and discipline others who participated in the violence.
University spokesperson JP Roodt said the institution’s management was working with the insurance company to establish the quantum of the damages.
“But I can confirm that the costs of the damages run into several millions,” he said.
SRC president Siphokazi Mbalo, who was present in court, refused to speak to reporters saying she did not like the media.
Outside the court, police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana told journalists that the accused were not arrested by police but were rounded up by the university’s campus protection unit who dropped them off at the Alice police station.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
