Was dad a Freemason, asks UCT

WHILE debate rages on about the fate of the Cecil John Rhodes statue, the University of Cape Town is dealing with another potentially contentious issue: odd questions on its application forms.

The bursary section, part of the main student admission form, contains questions about students’ heritage to determine whether they qualify for certain bursaries.

The first question relates to descent, where an applicant has to indicate whether his or her ancestors were Old Dutch, Huguenot, German, Namibian or British.

The second question, and one that raises the most eyebrows, is whether the father of the applicant or grandfather was a Freemason — and if so, which lodge.

The third question is whether parents or grandparents served during World War 2.

Now it has emerged that the application form is also being considered for a makeover.

UCT spokesman Patricia Lucas said the questions pertained to specific bequests that were available to qualifying students.

“These bequests are from the estates of deceased people, written into their wills. Changing the criteria for the bequests would require a high-court order,” she said.

“We’ve had no complaints from applicants about these questions, as no student who is eligible for financial aid has been denied funding because of the criteria in these bequests.

“In fact, we do find that when a student is seeking financial assistance, it can be a pleasant surprise to discover there may be a bequest that is put aside for someone based on no other rea- son than a forebear’s origins or service in World War 2.

“These questions merely serve to identify potential recipients who meet the specific criteria mentioned in the relevant bequest,” she said.

“Altogether, the number of bequests that inform bursaries with the above criteria is approximately five.”

The Higher Education Transformation Network said the questions should be scrapped. The network is a lobby group representing graduates from different universities across South Africa.

Reginald Legoabe, an executive member of the network, said the questions were “unnecessary”.

Lucas said that the university was reconsidering the relevance of including the questions in future application forms, because they rarely got applicants that met the criteria.

The university is scheduled to take the fate of the Rhodes statute to a university council special meeting on Wednesday.

We’ve had no complaints from applicants about these questions