University of KwaZulu-Natal - Controversies

Controversies

There have been a number of controversies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal since its foundation.

Firstly, there have been several staff strikes and student strikes, with some strikes from 2009 onward involving police intervention and the use of riot control measures, as well as violence on the part of some strikers.

Secondly, there have been a series of legal and disciplinary actions taken by senior university management against academics for speaking in public about the university. These actions have drawn wide criticism, both from academics and from organisations such as Cosatu and UNESCO. They were also the cause of a 2008 staff strike.