The Young Communist League suspended Thursday's mass action at the University of SA (Unisa) campuses planned to protest against its vice-chancellor Barney Pityana.

Instead, the league and the SA Students' Congress (Sasco) will hold talks with the institution's management in Pretoria.

This could be a tactic by Unisa's management to out-manoeuvre the students and the workers, said Sasco spokesperson Castro Ngobese on Wednesday.

"We strongly believe that the forced meeting presents us with an opportunity to engage Unisa management to adhere to our demands as part of our efforts of safeguarding Unisa's reputation and rescuing it from sinking to the gutter under the stewardship of Pastor Pityana," said Ngobese.

The league had threatened to shut down the institution until Pityana resigned, saying he "lacked vision".

Unisa confirmed it would be meeting the YCL to address the issues it had raised recently.

Unisa spokesperson Doreen Gough said Thursday's meeting was facilitated by the Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande.

However, Ngobese said they would resort to strike action should management fail to meet their demands.

"We will regroup and mobilise our forces to render the university ungovernable," he said.

Ngobese called on students who had been financially excluded from writing exams, to prepare to write their mid-year exams.

"We are making this call through our protracted struggles and victory scored against the inept Unisa management to allow all students to write."

The league denied Pityana's "political affiliation" had anything to do with their demand for him to step down.

Many believe Pityana's apparent support of the Congress of the People, a party that broke away from the African National Congress, made him unpopular.

Sapa

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