Cape Town - The threat of possibly losing funders or donors will not deter the transformation project at Stellenbosch University after the release of the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry report.
This was shared during a media briefing at the university on Wednesday, a day after it publicly released the 184-page external independent report into allegations of racism at the institution.
Led by retired Judge Sisi Khampepe, the commission started its work on June 13, after two incidents of alleged racism in May.
The report detailed, among others, experiences of exclusion due to the Afrikaans language and culture, middle management opposed to transformation, toxic masculinity, and toxic and exclusionary culture within residences and communities.
The report noted external pressures by alumni, political groups, and other interest groups in preserving the status quo due to the university’s cultural significance to Afrikaners.
There was a constant threat of legal action from Afrikaans interest groups, should any changes be contemplated over the university’s language policy. It stated that key structures within the university’s transformation apparatus were ineffective in practice, mainly its Inequality Unit. A culture of intimidation discouraged staff from reporting grievances.
University rector and vice-chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers said the request for an inquiry was made by him after “unsavoury incidents”.
He was referring to an incident in which a drunk white student was filmed urinating on the property of a black student at a campus residence earlier this year, and the university’s part to root out racism.
De Villiers said it was a sobering moment for the university, and the report made for uncomfortable reading. Despite significant, deliberate transformation efforts to date, black staff and students did not feel welcome, he said.
De Villiers said they would study the recommendations to see how best to put them in place.
The university’s deputy vice-chancellor: learning and teaching, Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, said there was a need to relook at the culture within residences.
“With regards to funding, the university has a firm stance on that in terms of that our funders, when they provide funding to the institution, we will not take any funds that will in any way go against the values of our institution or infringe directly or indirectly with regards to human rights and human dignity,” he said.
This as the DA constituency head for Stellenbosch, Leon Schreiber, said the DA would write to the trustees of the Het Jan Marais Fonds, one of the biggest donors to the university, to consider defunding the university unless its management rejected the recommendations on abolishing Afrikaans.
The report however did not explicitly state this recommendation. Schreiber said the DA would take the report on legal review in court.
Deputy vice-chancellor for social impact, transformation and personnel, Professor Nico Koopman, said: “The threat we received that we might lose some funders will in no way inhibit us from pursuing the transformation in both quantitative and especially qualitative sense..”
Recommendations from the commission included a review of the Equality Unit’s processes, and compulsory training on matters relating to discrimination and transformation for all staff members.