“I am appealing. I am left with only two and a half days to appeal. We will follow all internal processes,” he said.

Mabengwane said he would file his appeal within the stipulated five working days.

Mabengwane was suspended for three years from the North West University, after he was found guilty on five of the charges against him.

“On Thursday, 25 February, Mr Linda [Benz)] Mabengwane, the former Campus Student Representative Council (CSRC) president was officially informed that he is suspended from the North West University [NWU] for a period of three years,” campus spokesperson, Koos Degenaar, said in a statement released on Friday.

He was found guilty of disrupting the registration process at the Mafikeng Campus on 25 January 2016, the assault of a fellow student on the same day, wilfully bringing the name of the university into disrepute by interfering with the rights of co-students in respect of the registration process in direct violation of a court interdict, interfering with the managerial functions of the management of the Mafikeng Campus, and engaging with the media on topics or activities that were designed to bring the NWU into disrepute.

He was not found guilty of interfering with the registration process on 18 January.

Degenaar said the university was also instructed to notify all other higher education institutions in South Africa of the conviction and penalty.

ANA