Lecturer in ‘racist post’ uproar

A UKZN lecturer is in hot water for “racist” Facebook remarks, taken by some to suggest that black South Africans have no legitimate claim to the country’s land.

The lecturer also charged that blacks were “wrongful owners” of the land and reluctant to pay rates and taxes.

The post by law lecturer Carol Anne Epstein ignited a sit-in by students at the office of acting dean and head of the School of Law, demanding disciplinary action be taken against her, including withholding her pension benefits.

Epstein is believed to be leaving the country next month to start a new job in the UK.

The School of Law has distanced itself from Epstein, claiming her remarks were “insensitive, inaccurate and hurtful and stood against the school’s teachings to its students”.

On November 4, Epstein took to Facebook in a post directed at Black Land First and at EFF and ANC politicians. “Once the land has been returned to its wrongful owners (ie, not the San and not the Khoi), who is going to pay the rates on it? The cookie jar is getting emptier by the day,” she wrote.

This was followed by an apology and retraction the next day in which she said she did not endorse colonialism in any way. She conceded to have worded her post poorly, which portrayed a wrong impression of her.

“My comment was suggesting that there was an order of dispossession… Khoi and San were first dispossessed, so one has to start there. Re the cookie jar, that is a reference to soaring unemployment and an inability to earn a living in respect of much of the population, and it doesn’t help that corruption is rife, so the cookie jar (Treasury) is emptier. I was most definitely not saying that the cookie jar would be empty because blacks would not pay rates,” Epstein wrote.

Some of her Facebook friends had reservations about her apology while others stood by her. Her former student, Thabiso Khazi, declared her disapproval of Epstein’s statement.

“So disappointed in you. To think that you taught me a law module. You have tarnished your almost perfect reputation...”

@lindilesifile