“It is not acceptable that in a university setting students would hold a staff member against his will and use that as a condition for engagement,” it said in a letter to the “university community”.

The students said they would release him on condition a university mass meeting was held on Monday. And, that a meeting between the vice chancellor and students scheduled for 16:00 on Tuesday, include a larger group of protesting students.

Further details of how the staffer was freed were not immediately available. The university said late on Tuesday it would investigate the incident and take steps where necessary.

The campus is across the road from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, which has been part of the Fees Must Fall protests countrywide.

A minibus was torched at the CPUT Cape Town campus on Tuesday.