Cape Town - Black students and staff at Stellenbosch University (SU) still feel unwelcome and excluded.
This is in large part due to the fact that some of the residences tend to disproportionately favour Afrikaans cultural practices, and because there is a perceived lack of representation and diversity.
These are some of the scathing comments by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe in her report following the Commission of Inquiry into alleged racism at Stellenbosch University.
The Khampepe Commission began its work on June 13, 2022 following a request by the leadership of the university to probe alleged racism at the institution in May this year, as part of its commitment to root out racism and discrimination.
The probe was after two major racist incidents this year; the first involving a verbal altercation between two final year law students at the Law Faculty Dance in May and another on May 14 in the Huis Marais residence when a white first year student, Theuns du Toit, entered the room of a black first year student, Babalo Ndwayana, without his permission and and urinated on Ndwayana’s possessions, including his laptop and textbooks.
In her report, Justice Khampempe said while she could not dismiss the evidence that indicated that there have been cultural improvements in many of the communities in recent decades, the overwhelming message from the evidence of the students was that many of the residences were racially segregated.
She said racial segregation in the residences appeared to occur as a consequence of many factors.
“Some that arose in the evidence included the different expectations, resources and priorities of different groups of students, as well as their cultural preferences.
“To illustrate this point, it is unsurprising that white, Afrikaans students are more likely to attend and socialise together at events that cater to their cultural preferences. Black students, on the other hand, may be less inclined to attend these events, which means that socialisation across the racial divide is less likely to take place.
This is exacerbated by the disparity between students’ financial constraints, which tends to be racialised as well.”
She said the university’s history and the symbolic meaning that it has acquired for certain members of the white, Afrikaans community posed challenges to transformation at the institution.
“This is because there are people, both within and outside of the university, who believe that the university is culturally significant to Afrikaners and that the status quo should accordingly be preserved.
“These sentiments manifest in external pressures being exerted on the university by alumni and various political and interest groups, and in resistance from white, Afrikaans students who attend the university hoping to have the same experience of university life that was on offer at the university many years ago.”
On the Ndwayana incident, Justice Khampempe said the commission found that the culture in Huis Marais was not conducive to a harmonious and socially-cohesive environment, and that the student leaders of that residence evidently had not genuinely bought into the university’s transformation project.
“Furthermore, it was perspicuous that the Residence Head of Huis Marais was ill-equipped for his role, and ill-suited to the challenging task of transforming Huis Marais.
“With these considerations in mind, the Commission found that the University ought to implement major interventions to successfully reform the culture in Huis Marais, which could include a return to the proposal of reconstituting Huis Marais as a mixed residence.”
SU rector and vice-chancellor professor Wim de Villiers said: “This is a sobering moment for the University.
It is evident that black staff members and students do not feel welcome here, despite our deliberate transformation efforts to date..”
Reacting to the report, Ndwayana’s father, Mkuseli Kaduka said: “The findings are a vindication of my and many others that there’s a lot of injustices happening in that institution.”
Cape Times