SOUTH AFRICA: Unrest at North West University (again)

North West University managers have challenged South African Education Minister Naledi Pandor's intervention at the unrest-torn institution, saying they were not consulted about the "drastic step" of a commission of inquiry, reports the Mail & Guardian. The university's Mafikeng campus has been rocked by students unrest in the past month.

Vice-chancellor Theuns Eloff also suggested that Pandor was pressured into the move by the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party in North West province, which he accused of joining forces with staff associations to destabilise the campus after violence erupted.

At the end of September Pandor announced an inquiry into the "affairs of the university" after weeks of student demonstrations in which the senate hall, administration block and a student residence at Mafikeng were torched. On 25 September 49 students were arrested and charged with public violence. Eloff said Pandor's intervention left the council perturbed, as it had not been consulted.
Full report on the Mail & Guardian site