AfriForum Youth exposes double standards at Tuks with protest stickers that provoke heated debate

9 October 2023

AfriForum Youth pasted stickers at the entrances of the University of Pretoria (UP) campus in Hatfield this morning to place the spotlight on racial exclusion and the university’s double standards. This protest action follows after EFF members prevented white students from gaining access to the campus on 27 September. On that day, EFF members shouted, among other things: “Only black students!” AfriForum Youth has already sent several letters to the university demanding the deregistration of the EFF Student Command (EFFSC UP) as a student society. The university simply refused to respond.

The deathly silence with which UP greeted the letters forced frustrated AfriForum Youth members to take a new approach to get answers from the university. The stickers were put up early this morning (9 October) at the entrances of the Hatfield campus. This unleashed a huge debate within a few hours. The stickers read: “Blacks only” and “No whites allowed.”

University management reacted quickly, condemning the protest action and threatening disciplinary action against individuals responsible for putting up the stickers. It is shocking that the university reacts so quickly and heated to a protest against racial exclusion on their campus, while those who are guilty of actual racial exclusion bear no consequences for their actions.

Louis Boshoff, Campaign Officer at AfriForum, says the contrast between these two incidents speaks volumes. “AfriForum Youth will continue to apply pressure for the deregistration of the EFFSC UP, and continue to demand that the perpetrators of that incident be held accountable, as the university has now proven they are capable of responding quickly,” says Boshoff.

“Students are being intimidated on the University of Pretoria’s Hatfield campus and excluded based on their race by the EFF Student Command UP. In the meantime, the university washes its hands in innocence, but when there is a protest action that highlights this behaviour, Tukkies takes lightning-quick action and threatens disciplinary action. This is highly suspicious,” concludes Boshoff.

AfriForum Youth invites everyone to support their petition at www.skorseff.co.za.

We strongly condemn and are deeply disappointed by the public relations stunt carried out by mischievous individuals, involving the placement of "no whites allowed" stickers on certain entrances of the Hatfield Campus. The University is firmly committed to upholding the… pic.twitter.com/m8JGGTG7b0

— University of Pretoria (@UPTuks) October 9, 2023

Issued by Louis Boshoff, Campaign Officer, AfriForum, 9 October 2023