Wits students' legal bid to stay in residence dismissed
The South Gauteng High Court has dismissed the urgent application filed by two students at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) against the university.
The students were requesting the court to order Wits to extend the period for the evacuation of residences.
This comes after the university ordered students to vacate residences due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
A student at Wits Medical School has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Vice-Chancellor of Wits, Adam Habib says the students who brought the application forward should face consequences.
"The judge implored the applicants and all other students to comply with the directives of the President, the World Health Organization and the NICD," said Habib.
"We are very disappointed with the applicants and others that have tried to undermine the effective management of this pandemic."
ALSO READ:
6 Wits students still in self-quarantine
The first student self-quarantined after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 but by then he had attended several classes - compromising at least 350 other students. The university's spokesperson Shiron Patel says the student is recovering well but remains isolated. "The student isn't presenting with any further symptoms," says Patel.
Habib says the court should have made the students pay the university's legal fees for this case.
"Individuals must be held accountable and we are disappointed that the Court did not award costs against the applicants in a context where their conduct has not only been frivolous and reckless."