S. Africa's Wits University to hold assembly on reopening class

After three weeks of protests by students across the country calling for free education, University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg will on Friday hold a general assembly to decide whether to reopen class.

If consensus is not reached during the assembly, the institution could be forced to shut down completely, said Vice Chancellor Adam Habib Thursday.

Habib told Xinhua that if the university "is not teaching and is not doing research, then there is no purpose that it will be open."

According to Habib, general assemblies were called only when there were issues of national importance which the university wanted to put its position on.

Habib said it was not a debating platform, but a very formal one, preceded by negotiations, which were taking place during the week.

He hoped that that all members of the Wits would arrive at a consensual position.

On Thursday morning, hundreds of Wits students attempted to march from the medical school to the main campus in Braamfontein, but police halted them as they do not have a permit to march. Enditem