Puk student leader resigns after continued bullying 

24 February 2023  

AfriForum Youth supports the decision of Beàtha Groenewald, secretary of the North-West University’s (NWU) Potchefstroom Student Campus Council (SCC), to resign after the NWU’s continued bully behavior made this position unbearable for her. This comes after Groenewald was unfairly dismissed on 13 February, re-appointed on 23 February, and shortly after was notified that a second motion of no confidence was being brought against her.

On Thursday, exactly five minutes after the SCC announced that Groenewald’s dismissal from her position had been withdrawn Yikumba Andreas, the chairperson of the SCC, sent an email to the SCC members to inform them of an extraordinary meeting to bring a motion of no confidence against Groenewald. The SCC’s media release was issued on Thursday 14:37 in which it is acknowledged that the dismissal of Groenewald as a SCC member was a mistake. Andreas’s email was sent on Thursday 14:42 informing SCC members of the extraordinary meeting that will take place on Saturday afternoon.

The ambiguous messages spread by the NWU structures causes great confusion and appear to be an attempt to mislead the public. Moreover, it is experienced as continued bullying behavior that continues to target a student leader after she stood up for justice.

“It seems as if this was just a cheap exercise in public relations. The bullying behaviour of the NWU structures is unacceptable and AfriForum Youth will maintain their stand against this type of behaviour until justice is done,” says René van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum Youth.

Groenewald resigns because she wants to distance herself from the way in which the SCC currently functions. She feels that this goes against her moral values and in addition the constant harassment and bullying became unbearable for her.

Issued by René van der Vyver, Spokesperson, AfriForum Youth, 24 February 2023