SAUS Opposes University Vaccine Mandates, Protests Expected as Academic Year Commences

• The South African Union of Students opposes the vaccine mandates that will come into effect at many universities when the 2022 academic year commences
• The universities that have announced a mandate include the University of Witwatersrand, the University of the Western Cape and the University of the Free State
• SAUS said that the policy amounts to excluding students and must be reversed with immediate effect

CAPE TOWN - The South African Union of Students (SAUS) has repeated its previous statement, which opposes the vaccine mandates that will come into effect at many South African universities when the 2022 academic year commences.

The universities that have announced this policy change so far include the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of the Free State. This mandate means that to access campus, students and staff will need to be fully vaccinated, but unvaccinated people can still register and access online learning.

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The Student Representative Council (SRC) at UWC expressed that many students are concerned about how the vaccine mandate will affect their academic career, News24 reports. SAUS said that the policy amounts to excluding students and must be reversed with immediate effect.

What thinks should happen in the 2022 academic year

Asive Dlanjwa, a spokesperson for SAUS, said the union encourages students and staff to voluntarily get vaccinated but does not support a vaccine mandate. Dlanjwa added that enforcing vaccination could have the opposite effect of what universities intend, in that it can create hesitancy and anti-vaccine sentiments.

“Spaces of higher learning are spaces where we expect that there should be intellectual engagement and discourse that is informed by facts and science, and that is informed by reason,” Dwanjwa said.

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According to City Press, SAUS believes that the universities should not implement a vaccine mandate until there are nationwide vaccine policies put in place by the government. However, the union agrees that to resume full in-person learning, the majority of students and staff would need to be fully vaccinated.

Reactions to potential vaccine mandate protests

@Teddyvic2 believes:

"If they don’t want the vaccine, the government must withhold their funding or they must study virtually."

@rams_kgabo remarked:

"Good for them."

@LibagoShumani shared:

@Cliff_Schwarz said:

" It will end in violence and buildings burned down."

@Azania_KZN shared:

"I will join them one way or the other."

@kumkaniWeAfrika asked:

Residence evictions at UWC spark protests, rooms damaged and staff attacked

Speaking of university vaccination mandates, Briefly News previously reported that students of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) were reportedly evicted on a mass scale since 7 December and retaliated by protesting against the university.

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UWC said that they were relocating students to alternative accommodation so that their current residences could undergo deep cleaning, but many students are refusing this as they interpret it as mass eviction.

UWC planned to not only conduct deep cleaning but also institute their campus vaccination policy. This policy states that in order for anyone to access the UWC campus and its associated facilities, they will need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Source: Briefly News