The student council of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg said on Twitter that police detained Mcebo Dlamini, a former council president, in his room at a student residence early today.
Dali Mpofu, a lawyer who has assisted student protesters, said he spent an hour with Dlamini at a police station after his arrest.
South African police say they arrested a man at the university at 1 AM today during investigations into "violence, criminality, intimidation."
Students and police have clashed at the university and in surrounding streets in the past week.