Four young men in the Free State could hardly have known that their video of a demeaning mock initiation of black university employees would be flashed on the world's TV screens.
A bake sale where cake prices were determined by a person's race was broken up by the University of Pretoria's campus security on Friday. The Freedom Front Plus student organisation, VF+TAS, said it held the sale to illustrate the unfairness of affirmative action. The organisation asked white, Indian and coloured students to pay significantly more for cake than black students.
A draft loyalty pledge has plunged South Africa into a new identity crisis as it mulls its common values 14 years after discarding apartheid to forge a united society under a single flag. As the motley rainbow nation quibbles over a government proposal to introduce a pledge of allegiance in schools, some ideological battle lines are being redrawn.
Classes were still suspended at three Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) campuses on Wednesday amid meetings to resolve matters, said a university spokesperson. The university suspended all lectures on all three campuses on Tuesday following ongoing violent protests over fee hikes and academic exclusion.
Classes at all the Tshwane University of Technology's campuses were suspended amid student protests on Tuesday, authorities said. "The decision was taken due to the prevailing atmosphere on campus and the potential for violent clashes between striking and non-striking students," vice-chancellor Errol Tyobeka said.
The present vice-chairperson of the University of Pretoria's student representative council (SRC), Cobus van der Linde, will not be a candidate in Tuesday's elections for next year's SRC. Pretoria High Court judge Lettie Malopa on Monday dismissed Van der Linde's urgent application to remain on the candidates list.
