Carlo Petersen
OPEN Stellenbosch (OS) student activists have kept the spotlight firmly on transformation at Stellenbosch University (SU) with the release of a hard-hitting documentary, Luister.
The 35-minute film includes the stories of 32 students who share their experiences of what the group has described as “a culture of racism and violence” at the university.
“It continues to fester untreated an inconceivable 21 years into democracy. Luister is a call for South Africans and the world to wake up to the reality of a plague of hatred which still exists in Stellenbosch,” said OS spokesperson Simone Cupido. OS has been protesting about slow transformation and the university’s language policy, which states that “Stellenbosch University is committed to the use, safeguarding and sustained development of Afrikaans as an academic language”.
The activists handed a memorandum to Vice-Chancellor Wim de Villiers on May 13. Cupido said OS had been overwhelmed by the response to Luister, with more than 42 000 YouTube views by yesterday.
Stellenbosch Vice-Rector, community interaction and personnel, Professor Nico Koopman, said an “office for transformation” was being established to fast-track transformation at the university.
SU spokesperson Martin Viljoen said the university’s management was aware that the culture at the university was experienced by some students as unwelcoming. “This is an element that receives top priority at the university.”
“As far as the video is concerned, there are certain misrepresentations that must be pointed out,” he said, citing the perception that the university takes action against those who engage in protest action.