One person has been shot dead in Braamfontein amid student protests.

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) investigators have been deployed to determine if the person killed in Braamfontein on Wednesday morning was shot dead by the police.

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Independent Police Investigative Directorate's spokesperson Ndileka Cola said they had been notified by the Hillbrow police station about an incident that occurred in Braamfontein earlier on Wednesday morning.

"The directorate has dispatched four investigation officers to probe the allegations, the team will also cordon the crime scene and conduct the investigation including locating the person with the video footage, identify eye witnesses etc.

"Furthermore IPID will ensure the body is protected and carried safe to the mortuary. 

"If this incident is within the mandate of IPID, the normal investigation process will unfold. When the preliminary investigation is finalised later today, the directorate will provide more details," Cola said.

News24 reported earlier that one person had been shot dead in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, allegedly by police.

It is believed that the incident occurred on Wednesday morning when police were attempting to disperse Wits students who were protesting about student funding.

Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele was unable to give further details, but told Newzroom Afrika that police had been alerted to the body of a middle-aged man in Braamfontein and that the relevant stakeholders were currently at the scene to investigating the matter further. He would not confirm whether it had been confirmed that the man was shot at by the police.

An eyewitness who was waiting at a nearby bus stop spoke to News24 on the scene, on condition of anonymity, shortly after the incident. They said some students who were protesting in the Braamfontein CBD were taken to a clinic in De Beer Street. While they were there, the occupants of a nyala in the vicinity shot at the protesters.

A man who was walking out of the clinic was hit, the witness said.