Durban - A KwaZulu-Natal law student has been expelled and barred from Unisa for five years after being found to have made “hurtful and racist remarks” on Facebook.
Skhanyiso Khanyile, of Klaarwater near Pinetown, was found guilty of bringing the university into disrepute.
But the 20-year-old has denied the claims, telling the Daily News that his Facebook account had been hacked and the remarks were not made by him.
Khanyile was notified of the university’s drastic measures on Friday. He cannot register again at Unisa until 2019 - and not before undergoing counselling for anger management.
“I do not need counselling because I do not have anger issues; those were not my posts,” he insisted.
Khanyile said he would appeal against the findings, but if he lost, it would be the end of his academic journey.
The Facebook remarks, directed at Indians, were also the subject of a complaint made by the SA Hindu Maha Sabha to the Human Rights Commission in August.
Sabha president, Ashwin Trikamjee, said they had complained after receiving “innumerable” complaints from the community.
“Our intention was to get the Facebook page stopped immediately and for the authorities to investigate and if there was any contravention, (to) take action.”
He would not be drawn on the severity of the disciplinary measure but welcomed the fact that disciplinary action had been taken.
The Sabha had not complained to Unisa, he said.
University spokesman, Martin Ramotshela, said the disciplinary action taken against Khanyile was as a result of a formal complaint to its ombudsman.
Khanyile was charged with two counts of misconduct. One related to the actual posting and the other for displaying the Unisa logo on his Facebook profile, “without written permission of the university... thereby implying your official association with the university”.
On Facebook Khanyile stated he was a law student at Unisa and the university’s logo was displayed.
He said he was unable to attend the disciplinary hearing as it was held in Pretoria but had sent a letter in response to the charges, as permitted by Unisa.
In it, Khanyile said: “As a law student I know the consequences of writing such despicable things, I know very well that they’ll cripple my future.”
His grandmother had saved up her pension money for him to register at Unisa.
“My gran was distraught, she knows I’m not a racist person and I don’t ever get into trouble.”
- Daily News