Cape Town - Student organisations have labelled measures taken by Stellenbosch University to root out racism and discrimination at the institution as “ineffective” following a third reported urination incident this year.
The belongings of two black students were allegedly urinated on by an intoxicated white student at Eendrag male residence in the early hours of Saturday.
Eendrag residence management said they were alerted to the incident by a senior student.
“An intoxicated student urinated on the floor and clothing on the floor of a fellow student,” residence management said.
“The implicated student was temporarily suspended (pending a confirmation of suspension hearing) from Eendrag on Saturday, and the incident has been referred to the Office for Student Discipline.
“The affected students are in continual supportive conversations with the leadership of Eendrag. The upcoming week is the start of the final exam period for Stellenbosch students. All parties involved have requested that they be allowed to focus on their academic responsibilities.”
South African Union of Students spokesperson Asive Dlanjwa said these incidents would continue to occur as they were not fully addressed.
This comes as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) reported that it would move to prosecute Theuns du Toit who urinated on the belongings of fellow black student Babalo Ndwayana in May.
Another student who allegedly urinated on his roommate’s chair at Helshoogte was suspended from the residence last month. The university said an investigation into the matter had been concluded and was now being considered by the chairperson of the Central Disciplinary Committee for further action.
“We have said that as long as we still have economical imbalances and inequality among black and white students we will continue to see these incidences, particularly at Stellenbosch University. It is unfortunate that this is the third incident,” said Dlanjwa.
“As much as it speaks to the socio-economic discrepancies between white and black students, it also speaks to the ineffective measures and transformation efforts taken by the university.
“As much as it speaks to the socio-economic discrepancies between white and black students, it also speaks to the ineffective measures and transformation efforts taken by the university.
“We call on the university once again to take the harshest steps possible to deal with this. Institutions of higher learning should not be a place for such behaviour,” said Dlanjwa.
The university said it would consider further action and decide on suspending the student after consideration of the facts of the case.
SU deputy vice-chancellor of learning and teaching, Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, said they were concerned about the scourge of alcohol use in the university’s residences.
“We will continue to use all resources at our disposal to combat the scourge of irresponsible alcohol consumption by some of our students.
“It is evident that more drastic action and regulations have become necessary, and there needs to be engagement with the municipality and business community as to how we can work together to curtail irresponsible alcohol consumption.
“We can leave no stone unturned in addressing this devastating behaviour,” he said.
South African Students Congress (Sasco) provincial convener Sifiso Zungu said they tried to engage with the affected students at their residence on Sunday, but were blocked by residence staff.
“The house father refused to give access to students to meet those affected. They had a meeting and the message from them is that those students want to remain unknown,” he said.
“This is something we have engaged on, that maybe white students are sending us a message.
Because there is no way that in every residence this is happening and the university is only blaming alcohol,” Zungu said.
Ndwayana’s father, Mkhuseli Kaduka, has meanwhile welcomed the decision by the NPA to prosecute Du Toit.
“That has been my goal from the onset to have this case on the court roll so that the courts can determine on what will be the appropriate recourse,” Kaduka said.
Meanwhile, a former SU employee said some senior white staff members are at the root of the problem because “they allow for the continuation and the facilitation of systemic racism”.
“Racism at Stellenbosch is a mind virus. The younger generations are groomed by their predecessors (family) that the ill-treatment of persons of colour is just because they are second class human beings.
“Having a ‘black friend’ does not mean by default that you aren’t a racist. If your ‘white friend’ has zero interest in learning about your culture and beliefs, that person is not your friend.
“This is what’s known as ‘othering’, and the university and the town has a huge problem.”
Cape Times