Hostage drama: Winnie at Wits
2003-02-05 15:21
Johannesburg - African National Congress Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela arrived at the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday, where Education Minister Kader Asmal was negotiating with a hostage-taker.
A suspended student took a female member of staff hostage earlier on Wednesday in an apparent bid to be readmitted. Asmal had been briefed on the situation and was negotiating with the student by telephone, the university reported.
The student took the woman hostage on Wednesday morning in an office in the Senate House building on the campus near central Johannesburg. The man had apparently tied his hostage's hands with a computer cable but it was not yet known if he had hurt her, police spokesperson Captain Schalk Bornman said.
The student is believed to be armed with a knife.
A reporter said Madikizela-Mandela was on the campus, but was not near the office in which the drama was unfolding. Police were keeping reporters away.
Members of the SA Police Service's special task force have been deployed inside Senate House.
Telephone lines have been opened to allow the negotiators to communicate with the student, Bornman said. Earlier, police said another member of staff had attempted to talk to the student.
The area around the building has been closed to the public.
The campus is crowded with students who have arrived for orientation and registration at the beginning of the academic year. The normal business of the university is continuing.
Earlier, another police spokesperson, Superintendent Chris Wilken said the student, studying for a BA degree had been suspended for non-payment of study fees and had apparently taken the woman hostage in a desperate effort to be re-instated.
The student has also asked the university to write off his tuition fee debt.
- SAPA