Tension remained high at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) main campus on Tuesday as protesting students prepared to hand over a memorandum of demands to Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Habib.

However, Habib was thought to not be at the campus but attending the meeting where Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande was meeting with the National Board of Convocations and University Alumni in Pretoria.

According to one of #FeesMustFall leaders at Wits, Busisiwe Seabe of the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command said that they were still sorting out the logistics of who would receive the memorandum of demands, but were insisting on only handing over the memorandum to Habib.

Wits had earlier announced that it would hold a referendum next Monday for students to decide whether to resume the academic calendar or suspend activities for the rest of the year.

“We don’t trust the voting process,” said Seabe on the issue of the referendum.

She also said that the university should rather host a student assembly at the Great Hall on Thursday where students and parents would be able to comment.

A Wits University worker had reportedly died after inhaling fumes from a fire extinguisher which was released by protesting students last week.