Date : 9/11/2011

PROACTIVE SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS – IMPROVING YOUR EMERGENCY

RESPONSE CAPACITY IN CASE OF VIOLENT PROTEST AND POLITICAL

RIOTS

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

• Terminology

• Causes of student protests

• Types of students protests

• What enables confrontational student protests?

• Preventing student protests

• Managing student protests

• Additional reading material

TERMINOLOGY

• Student activism, student unrest, student riots and student demonstrations

• For the purpose of this presentation the term student protest will be used

CAUSES OF STUDENT PROTEST

• Students standing up for their rights

• Police response and behaviour to less serious incidents trigger student protest action

• “15 minutes of fame”

• Student organisations aligned with national bodies receive instructions from the national bodies

• Internal educational matters

• National and global concerns

• Monumental growth in student numbers

• Financial and academic exclusions

• Materialism and access to resources

CAUSES OF STUDENT PROTEST (con’d)

• Materialism and Access to resources (con’d)

UJ student leadership and politics in 2010 elections on party political basis ±19% participation

(2011 = 24%)

Party political student organisations deployed members into leadership positions

SRC’s budget for 2010 ± R1,5m

SRC controls this budget

Interference by national bodies

Appointment of student activists as staff

Tension among the student organisations perceived preference given to certain student

organisations

Access to University top management. SRC President have easy access and will not represent

opponents

Protest action arranged before elections to attract votes

TYPES OF STUDENT PROTESTS

1. Co-operative (moderate) protests

2. Confrontational

CO-OPERATIVE (MODERATE) PROTESTS

Not a serious threat

CONFRONTATIONAL

• Confrontational

Geared towards – and frequently results in breaking the institutions rules (e.g. student code of

conduct) or even national legislation

May include mass meetings, rallies, protests, marches, street demonstrations and strikes,

class and examination boycotts and disruptions.

Can be unpredictable and become highly confrontational, aggressive and even violent

Can be on or off campus

Can take the form of rampaging, rioting and looting on campus and in residences, laying siege

on senate or council meetings and in some cases, even the torching of administrative buildings

Intimidation

Can be a serious threat to life and property and the kidnapping and even the torture of senior

university authorities has been reported.

Students may oscillate between protest action and negotiations with management to achieve

their objectives

WHAT ENABLES CONFRONTATIONAL STUDENT PROTESTS?

• Access to an area and temporal availability (university campuses are therefore ideal for protests)

• Students know how to organise

• Access to resources, funds, printing, telephone, email and websites

PREVENTING STUDENT PROTESTS

1. Two-way communication channels (student-management)

2. Consider student’s demands

3. Motivate why demands cannot be met

4. Negotiations (Record and distribute minutes asap)

5. Code of conduct / student regulations

Address issues of civility

Clearly address student protest

Communicated to all students (and parents) right from orientation phase

6. Student Protest Policy

7. Consistent disciplinary action

8. Corruption free “clean”, transparent and fair management of the university

9. University top-management should not get directly involved with administering discipline, seen

as both prosecutor and judge and therefore an adversary to the students

STUDENT PROTEST PREPAREDNESS

• Emergency Operation Plan (EOP)

Within existing organizational structures the EOP works to ensure things are done systematically. Existing legislation and other memoranda of agreement forms the backbone of what the EOP aims to do

• Statement of Purpose – This is what the Plan seeks to achieve for stakeholders

• Situation and assumptions – Statement of the emergency events, actual and potential, and

describe the warning methods and any situations that may be peculiar / unusual to the

community• Organization and assignment of responsibilities

• Concept of operations - This section describes the roles and relationships of government agencies, the private sector and how they interact with each other.

• Administration and logistics - the management of resources, general support requirement, and availability of services and support for all phases of emergency management and the policies set up to make these activities occur

STUDENT PROTEST PREPAREDNESS (con’d)

• Plan development and maintenance – This involve activities to keep the plan current and reflect changes that result from actual experiences in emergency management, changing emergency situations and assumptions, and modification in the community’s profile.

• Authorities and references – These authorities and references apply to those statures, executive orders, regulations, and formal agreements that pertain to any type of emergency.

• Definition of terms – This provides for a common understanding of the terms that will be used in communication, directing and control in disasters

• An EOP is incomplete if it does not contain functional annexes that provide specific information and direction on operations and the role and responsibilities to be performed by responders.

STUDENT PROTEST PREPAREDNESS (con’d)

Examples of functional annexes

• Standard Operating Procedures / Policies

- Student Protest Policy

- Medical Emergency Response

- Student Regulations / Code of Conduct / Disciplinary Code

- Emergency Procedures

- Emergency Communication Plan

• Responders must have thorough knowledge of :

- Criminal Procedure Act

- Gathering Act

- SAPS standard operating procedures

STUDENT PROTEST PREPAREDNESS (con’d)

Information gathering

• Stakeholders, Top Management, Student Affairs etc., must keep the Director Protection Services

informed.

• Gather information from students and other sources

Operational plan

• Increase specialised Crowd Control Officers

• Arrange video and photographer to record all protest action

• Inform local SAPS

• Inform Public Order Police Unit

• Inform staff about the student protests

• Communication lines

Managing student protests

• Deploy security staff according to Operational Plan

• Deploy Crowd Control officers under command of experienced in-house security officer to prevent damage, injuries and disruption of university activities

• Coordinate SAPS deployment

• Coordinate Student Affairs’ responsibilities regarding instructions to – and communication and negotiations with students

• Record all activities (Video, photo’s and audio)

• Keep staff and media relations officers informed through continuous Situation Reports (e-mail)

• Strict assess control to campus to prevent outsiders from joining or leading the protest action

• Identify leaders among protesting students (video and photographic proof)

• Submit report with proof requesting immediate action against leaders of protest

• If disciplinary action is successful and leaders are suspended, remove them from campus • Call in SAPS (Public Order Police Unit) to act when:

- Crime is committed

- Court interdict is obtained

• Complete full report

ADDITIONAL READING MATERIAL

• Student protest in Sub – Saharan Africa

Johan A Nkinyangi

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3447250

• Student Governance in Africa: Thematic Summary of Key Literature

Thierry M. Luesher

• Unrest on the campus

Helen Suzman foundation

http://www.hsf.org.za/resource-centre/focus/issues-11-20/issue-11-third-quarter-1998/unrest-on-the-campus

• Why we need militant and radical student leaders

S. Phakathi

http://mg.co.za/article/2010-07-30-why-we-need-militant-and-radical-student-leaders

Thank You