18 UKZN staff suspended, one fired over sale of student places
Management at UKZN says one staff member has been dismissed while 18 others have been served with letters notifying them of their suspension for their alleged role in the sale of places at the institution's medical school.
At a press briefing an hour ago, Vice Chancellor Albert Van Jaarsveld said five students have also been implicated in the scandal.
Van Jaarsveld says investigations have also included a search and seizure operation this morning, involving 286 staff, mostly the Health and Sciences Faculty's admin section.
"University management initiated this investigation which has lead to the recovering of a syndicate. The investigation was a lengthy process as it was critical to ensure that all people implicated face the full might of the law.
Heavily armed members of the Mi7 man the entrance of #UKZN Nelson Mandela School of Medicine after protests broke out at the campus #KZN pic.twitter.com/LpZ9eoBpza
— Jarryd Subroyen (@Jazz_Subs031) August 3, 2017
As Vice Chancellor, I would also like to challenge other academic institutions in the sector to conduct their own robust investigations to drive out this kind of corruption across the sector," she says.
Over the past week, students at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine have been protesting, wanting answers on the investigation into the sale of space, among other grievances.
Earlier, public order police are on the scene of a student protest that turned violent.