The council of the University of the Free State (UFS) must ”go” because they do not want to transform, the African National Congress chairperson in the province, Ace Magashule, said on Tuesday.
”I cannot agree with those people who want to say everything at the University of the Free State was still fine,” Magashule said during a debate on racism in the Free State Legislature.
”Fourteen years after freedom, the UFS should not be talking about transformation now. The University of the Free State, the council of the UFS must transform.”
Magashule was talking during a snap debate on the topic ”racism at the University of the Free State” after a racist video surfaced at the UFS last week.
The video, which was widely condemned, features black university employees on their knees eating food which had apparently been urinated upon by white students.
It was filmed last year by students from the Reitz men’s residence.
The film depicts a mock initiation of five black staff members into hostel activities and refers to the university’s diversity policy for campus residences announced in 2007.
Magashule also urged young white South Africans not to be misled by ”old people” — referring to the Freedom Front Plus — and the stories they told.
”Young white South Africans must reject what old people have told them. You [old people] will go down in the dustbin of history [and] your children will never ever follow in your footsteps.”
Referring to the students who made the short film, Magashule said these ”young racist, fascist, stupid, uneducated students” had no place at the university.
”Everybody must campaign that they should leave the university.”
Magashule said the students’ actions in the video were completely unacceptable and that ”baasskap” had no place at the UFS.
Magashule said nevertheless, there were many white South Africans at the institution who were prepared to change.
The Free State leader for the Democratic Alliance, Roy Jakielsohn, said many politicians in South Africa should ask — after the Reitz video incident — why so many young people, black and white, in the post-apartheid era had not bought into the values of the Constitution.
”This does not only include young white students who make distasteful videos, but includes all students on the UFS campus who disrupt classes and destroy property.
”It also includes black students who recently threatened to rape white women, shed blood of white students, and get rid of Afrikaans on the campus.”
Jankielsohn said students who broke the law must face the law.
”Respect for the rights and property of others is one of the most basic principles of our Constitution,” said Jankielsohn.
Casper Nordier, provincial leader for the African Christian Democratic Party, said no one can escape responsibility for what happened at the campus ”but that some were more to be blamed than others”.
”We can continue playing the blaming game and go nowhere, or we can decide to cross the Rubicon to a solution.”
Free State Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) leader Abrie Oosthuizen said although eight of his party’s leaders had rejected any involvement in the video and related incidents everybody still blamed the party for the saga.
”In many of the issues here, people are very selective.”
He said the FF+ rejected racism but it also rejected forced integration.
Oosthuizen referred to incidents where white students were discriminated against at the UFS and said ”the rector, the DA and the ANC do not say a word”.
He said to him the video was ”student fun” that went too far.
”The media, the rector, the DA [Democratic Alliance] and the ANC have gone overboard with the video,” said Oosthuizen. – Sapa