Pretoria – Three halls were set alight at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Soshanguve campus during a protest, Gauteng police said on Sunday.

Police spokesperson Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said furniture was damaged as a result. Two private vehicles belonging to security guards were also set alight during the student protest at around 22:30 on Saturday, he added.

A photo on social networking site Twitter showed a torched bakkie inside the hall, surrounded by overturned desks and chairs.

The fire brigade was called to the campus.

“The incident was not reported yesterday and management came today to open a case [of malicious damage to property].”

No arrests had yet been made.

‘Under control'

Mofokeng said public order police were monitoring the situation and it was presently “under control”.

According to the TUT website, exams at the campus would start as scheduled on Monday.

A similar announcement was posted on its Facebook page a few hours before the protest.

It stated: “The University has put security measures in place at all the examination centres and Saps is on standby to ensure that our students are afforded the opportunity to complete their exams without interruption.”

After the exam halls were damaged, students took to the page to ask where they would now be writing.

The university had not yet responded to an enquiry on whether exams would continue on Monday.