Carlo Petersen
UCT vice-chancellor Max Price has told university staff and students that Zizipho Pae’s Facebook post, “We are institutionalising and normalising sin! Sin. May God have mercy on us” is an expression of religious belief and not meant to harm others.
“Ms Pae’s Facebook post was an expression of her sincerely held religious belief, rather than an intervention to insult or hurt those with whom she disagrees,” Price said.
The vice-chancellor weighed in on the matter after Pae requested that he review a recent decision by the Student Representative Council (SRC) to have her removed from the student body.
Pae said that in the absence of appropriate steps, she would take the matter to court.
Price responded to developments around the UCT student’s statements, saying the university management had sought guidance from the Constitutional Court.
“A 1998 ruling held that ‘those persons who for reasons of religious belief disagree with or condemn homosexual conduct are free to hold and articulate such beliefs’.
“This is especially so when a religious belief is articulated in a way that is not intended to insult, harm or discriminate, and if there is no incitement to taking harmful action against others,” Price said.
Price said there had been no formal announcement about Pae’s expulsion from the SRC and no formal notification.
“I have asked the SRC to clarify what decisions they have taken,” he said, adding that he intended to take expert legal opinion on the SRC’s actions which resulted in Pae’s reported expulsion.
He also said a formal complaint by the UCT Queer Revolution (UQR) lodged against Pae, alleging that she had breached the UCT Student Code of Conduct, had been dismissed.
Pae said she had been advised by her legal representatives that UCT’s decision was in keeping with the South African constitution.
“For this I commend the UCT leadership. I trust that the same considerations that informed the university’s decision to dismiss the UCT Queer Revolution’s baseless accusations against me, will inform their decision to review the SRC’s irregular decision and set it aside,” she said.
Pae said she would be lodging disciplinary charges against the students who vandalised her office.
UQR supporters marched to the SRC offices and to the Bremner Building yesterday, “calling on the SRC and vice-chancellor to account”. When asked what the slogan was referring to, UQR spokesperson Pam Dhlamini said the movement would release a statement in due course.