Assaulted Botho University students to sue police
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday February 23, 2017 17:52
Last week, videos and pictures showing police snatching students out of combis and beating them before stunned members of the public, went viral on social media platforms. The alleged assaults happened after the students staged a protest over non-accredited courses and book allowances.
Warona Gaelatswe, a Software Engineer student, told Mmegi that she was dragged and whipped by the police.
She said her ordeal started after accompanying a member of the Students Representative Council (SRC) to the management offices where they were seeking help for students’ concerns to be addressed. “When we got out of the staffroom, we found the police in the campus and they ordered us to vacate the University within 10 minutes,” she said.
Gaelatswe said they were surprised when the police started throwing tear gas triggering her asthma.
“I dragged myself to the combi where the police dragged and whipped us,” she said showing bruises on her body.
She said her parents want to file a case against the police.
Another student, Lame Mangisi said she was afraid to leave the school premises after seeing the police assault students, only to be assaulted. She said because her parents could not afford a lawyer, she decided to take the matter to the SRC.
Kesetselemang Libuku said during the chaos, she joined other students who sought refuge in the Game City mall. She said the police started firing rubber bullets and teargas and she felt something hot hitting her head.
“I was surprised to see my clothes soaked in blood. That is when I realised that I was shot. I have more than 10 stitches on my head,” she said.
Libuku was forced to shave her hair and gave the SRC pictures of her injured head and medical reports.
“I want justice. I hope the SRC will help me sue the police for what they have done to me,” she said.
Botho University SRC president Kabelo Dithoko said he did not understand why the police chose to assault the students because they were not fighting. He vowed that his committee would seek justice for assaulted students.
Last Friday, the Botswana police commissioner Keabetswe Makgophe told the media that students’ unruly behaviour during the strikes pushed the police to the edge.
He said demonstrating students damaged school properties, police cars and the public’s properties, something that he said forced the police to use a little bit of force when trying to arrest the offenders.
“The police monitored the strike for two weeks without assaulting students because they did not damage anything, how can we all of a sudden change and start assaulting them for no reason?
“As the police we are a civilised institution, we cannot stop people from demonstrating if they feel their rights have been violated but they should do that in a good way without damaging properties,” Makgophe said.