16 APRIL
8 JUNE
26 AUGUST
Tenth anniversary of the 1959 declaration of the University’s commitment to remaining free and open
The University’s statement on the Minister of Justice’s prohibition of all protest meetings in South Africa
3 MAY
16 AUGUST
15 AUGUST
The objection to the Universities Amendment Bill, which gave the Minister power to impose racial quotas on universities
Commitment to the University’s academic principles and the right and freedom of the University to decide who may teach and who may be admitted to study
Declaration against the State of Emergency and the detention without trial of students and staff
28 OCTOBER
5 AUGUST
7 MARCH
1969 1972 1975 General Assembly 24 SEPTEMBER
2005
A special General Assembly and graduation ceremony was held to enable alumni who had boycotted their graduation ceremony in protest against apartheid education to reclaim ownership of their alma mater, and be formally awarded their qualification. In honour of the ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Loyiso Nongxa, made a landmark proclamation, stating: “We can never claim that this country is completely liberated if there are places that are not ours, that are perceived to belong to the ‘other’. Wits is your University, it is our University as South Africans. Wits belongs to all of us: Black and White, Muslim or Jewish, Christian or Hindu, gay or straight.”
Protest against the detention of students without trial
1983 1985 1986
1987 1992 2001 Violation of the institutional autonomy of universities and the restriction of subsidies
Call to government to curb violence, combat poverty and call for a peaceful transition to democracy
The launch of Wits’ AIDS policy and commitment to fighting the epidemic
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