The headline “UWC rape, then police abuse” (May 9) was poignant for numerous reasons.
About three decades ago I was a Muslim student leader at UWC when the idea of a campus shebeen was proposed. Aware of the dangers, I rallied students to object to it. At the public meeting where the proposed shebeen was discussed, I was intimidated and threatened by unknown “students”.
I stood my ground and, when my turn came at the podium, I spoke harshly against the shebeen - much to the dismay of those who believed it was a done deal.
At that meeting, those who strongly supported the shebeen were ironically mostly aligned with the political and activist movements at that time. The anti-shebeen campaign received support from Muslim and Christian groups, environmental societies and others whose names I cannot remember.
The main reason advocated by the pro-shebeen group was the need to relax and socialise. The anti-shebeen campaigners questioned whether drinking alcohol was the only manner to relax and socialise.
The pro-shebeen lobby lost the debate as their reasons were, in reality, ignorant and short-sighted.
After I graduated some time later, the shebeen was quietly set up and the rest is history. Now we read of the abuse and rape of students. Ostensibly this is the norm and, according to reports, such incidences are not considered important by the authorities.
Ironically, while many people drink alcohol, no one likes a drunk.
There are many questions that remain unanswered. What is a shebeen doing at an institution of learning? Are there not enough in the communities? Since we live in an unsafe nation, where incidences of rape and child abuse are unacceptably high, when will we as a society learn the dangers of alcohol? When will women learn that a shebeen is not a safe space?
Since non-white students at UWC have heard of or seen the dangers of the “dop" system used by colonial and apartheid farmers, have they not learnt anything from the enslavement of people and the purpose of alcohol in that process.