1990 was not without political incident at Wits but the campus was very much more peaceful than it had been for many years. Ironically, the police clashed with students who went onto the streets on 2 February to celebrate De Klerk’s announcements in Parliament that day.

By the end of February, shortly after the start of the new academic year, a new direction in student politics had become apparent. As part of a nation-wide two-day period of mass action to protest against the crisis in education, the BSS and Sansco organised a class boycott at Wits. Anger was directed against the University administration with the BSS demanding a moratorium on all exclusions and the appointment of a commission of inquiry to investigate admissions and exclusions; an opportunity to make representations on how the University should redress imbalances created by apartheid education and a solution to the accommodation problem.

Charlton was sympathetic, agreeing that the inferior education provided by the Department of Education and Training was an important factor in determining students’ academic performance, and acknowledging that the University had an obligation to provide the academic support necessary to overcome the resulting educational disadvantage. Nevertheless, he said, ‘once it becomes clear that (students) will not be able to complete a degree course, there really is no alternative to excluding them from the University’. He could therefore not agree to a moratorium on exclusions.

The University was experiencing an accommodation crisis similar to that of many other universities at the beginning of an academic year. The large influx of new students, most of whom had no alternative accommodation, was a grave problem. Past experience had shown that within a few months many residence beds would be vacated as some students moved into flats and communes and others dropped out of their studies. The University had to find a balance between providing new residences in the face of stringent financial constraints, and over-providing and having subsequently to administer residences that were only partly filled. It was clear however, that accommodation needs would increase steadily as black student numbers climbed in subsequent years, and strenuous attempts were made to raise financial aid to support a residence acquisition programme.