The University of Cape Town (UCT) has confirmed that four of its students have been involved in an apparent robbery at Clifton Third Beach in Cape Town on Saturday in which one was stabbed to death and another was injured.

Earlier on Sunday, News24 reported that police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut said the circumstances of the incident were being investigated. 

UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the 19-year-old deceased was a first-year humanities student from KwaZulu-Natal.

He was stabbed in the chest. His friend was stabbed in the leg. 

Two others who were with them escaped.

“The incident took place on Saturday, 28 September 2019, early in the evening at Third Beach, Clifton, in Camps Bay. Of the surviving students, one suffered a stabbing assault and was treated in hospital. Though the other two students were not physically harmed. All three surviving students experienced severe shock and trauma from this terrible ordeal,” Moholola said. 

While News24 is in possession of the student’s name, it has decided not to name him because it is unclear whether his immediate family is aware of the incident.

Traut said the investigating officer was in the process of liaising with the family of the student and that he was unable to officially release the name.

Although Moholola said the institution informed the immediate family of the student, he added that there was a chance that the message did not reach the entire family.

“The University of Cape Town is devastated to confirm that four of our students suffered a tragic incident, resulting in an indiscriminate robbery and ensuing violent incident,” he said. 

The institution has extended its condolences to the family of the deceased and wished the other student in hospital a speedy recovery. 

The three who managed to escape are also receiving counselling support.

“The Department of Student Affairs, through its Student Wellness Service, has provided the surviving students with counselling support, as well as students who were close friends.” 

Moholola added that UCT was highly distraught that its students, and citizens in general, continued to be affected by violent crimes, and that it remained a scourge that needed to be confronted and eliminated from society.

The incident comes just weeks after 19-year-old first-year student Uyinene Mrwetyana, from the same university, was murdered at the Clareinch post office in Claremont, Cape Town.