Court confirms that Wim de Villiers and Stellenbosch University management broke the law
13 August 2020
Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite by Dr Leon Schreiber MP.
The Western Cape High Court today confirmed that the management of Stellenbosch University (SU), led by rector Wim de Villiers, broke the law by trying to keep information of critical public importance secret. The court order, which was handed down by judge Robert Henney, confirmed that the SU’s refusal to comply with a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) was “unlawful and in violation of the provisions of PAIA.”
The court further ordered the SU to comply with the PAIA request within five days by handing over all records relating to De Villiers’ alleged improper contact with retired judge Edwin Cameron during the court case about the abolition of Afrikaans as a primary language of teaching, alongside English, to the DA’s constituency head in Stellenbosch and SU-alumnus, Dr Leon Schreiber. The court further ordered that the university must pay the DA’s legal costs for the application.
Today’s court order is another victory in the DA’s ongoing quest for justice regarding the events that took place during the Constitutional Court case about the abolition of Afrikaans as a primary and equal language of instruction alongsideEnglish as the SU. The DA however derives no joy from seeing the SU descend into a swamp of unprincipled mismanagement. We remain determined to get to the bottom of what happened during the court case that robbed thousands of Afrikaans students of their right to mother tongue education precisely because the DA has such high regard for what the SU says it strives to be – a fully multilingual beacon of excellence.