Stuart Hess
MANY black students believe Professor Johan van Zyl should not lead Pretoria university – because he is white.
Whites, according to some black students at the University of Pretoria, should not get the top job at tertiary institutions.
Racism underpinned the student protest against the appointment of Professor Johan van Zyl as vice-chancellor this week at the university.
Members of the South African Student Congress (Sasco) and Pan Africanist Student Organisation (Paso) this week accused Van Zyl of racism, saying he sympathised with the right wing.
”White people should not head a tertiary institution in this country any more because they don’t have a history in the education struggle,” said Paso president Ignatius Molapo.
Molapo said he was disappointed by the University’s limited consultation with students on who would be appointed as vice- chancellor. ”He [Van Zyl] was not one of the people who attempted to bring about radical transformation at the university,” said Molapo.
Van Zyl countered this, saying one of his goals as vice-chancellor would be to bring about complete transformation, especially among students and staff.
”Some people have accused me of being racist and others have called me a communist traitor – which probably makes me a middle of the road person,” Van Zyl said. ”There has been such a tremendous transformation at this institution that people don’t recognise Tukkies from the way it used to be five years ago.”
But he agreed the transformation process could be better: ”As far as the staff is concerned we haven’t even touched the surface.”
Sasco has called for Van Zyl’s resignation, saying he was imposed upon students and they were not happy with the procedure to appoint him.
”If Van Zyl doesn’t resign, the battle lines will be drawn. We will make his life and work at the campus very difficult,” said Prince Mbethe, executive member of Sasco branch at Tukkies.
He said the University Council was not nurturing the transformation process. and there was no reason for negotiation as the relationship between Sasco and Van Zyl is ”not one of co-operation”.
Sasco said Van Zyl is popular only among right wingers at the university.
The SRC president Abrie Bothma told the Mail & Guardian: ”I believe they feel that transformation at the university has been too slow, especially because the last four executive appointments have been white males.”
Bothma said he was quite happy with Van Zyl and that he had a proven track record as dean of the faculty of agriculture. ”He incorporated a transformation programme at the faculty that increased the number of black students.” Bothma added there was no evidence linking Van Zyl to the right wing.
This week about 30 members of Sasco, Paso and Azasco (Azanian Student Congress) were arrested after an illegal gathering when the university obtained a court interdict prohibiting protest meetings on campus.
The students were released after an agreement between them and the police about when they would appear in court.