PARLIAMENTARY MEETING WITH STELLENBOSH UNIVERSITY TODAY PROVES URGENT NEED FOR TRANSFORMATION

1 September 2015

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip welcomes today’s meeting between the portfolio committee on higher education, the Stellenbosch University management and the minister of higher education Blade Nzimande regarding reports of racism, abuses and language discrimination captured in the Luister video documentary.

The meeting forms part of a programme of action by that committee to decisively intervene in all institutions of learning where such disturbing conditions exist. The committee is set to meet all other stakeholders involved in the Stellenbosh situation, including the Open Stellenbosch student movement, in its on-going effort to address the situation.

We wish to categorically state that we are dissatisfied with the Stellenbosch University management’s efforts to curb the rampant racial abuses and discrimination against Black students at the University campus. The university management does not seem to fully comprehend the seriousness of the dehumanising conditions suffered daily by Black students and the implication of the language discrimination to the students’ future.

The management, for instance, announced that only 17% of the university academic staff is made up of Blacks, yet no tangible interventions are in place to correct this shameful anomaly. The university management has admitted that it is inundated daily with complaints from Black students regarding racial attacks and abuses, but its response has been a slap in the wrist to the offending White students. The management has claimed it is open to engage in meaningful dialogue with the Open Stellenbosch student activists, but the Vice Chancellor has repeatedly rejected efforts by these students to meet him. The management has claimed it is committed to transformation, yet it disbanded the Transformation Unit established by the former Vice Chancellor Russell Botman immediately after his passing.

All these point to a university management that is paying lip service to the complete eradication of racism, exclusionary language policy and its anti-transformation practices. The management’s rhetoric regarding its commitment to transformation, non-racialism and language inclusivity rings hallow given the real situation on the ground.

We concur with the Minister Nzimande’s view that Stellenbosh University is one of our nation’s important assets and its reputation must be protected. However, for us to do so the institution must change. Academic institutions like Stellenbosh University cannot use their autonomy to perpetuate racism and other discriminatory practices. We cannot afford to have an enclave of Afrikaner nationalism and racial segregation in a sea of Constitutional democracy and human rights culture.

We therefore welcome the parliamentary committee’s swift intervention in the Stellenbosh University situation. Parliament must flex its oversight muscle to enforce real change at such institutions.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, September 1 2015