Investigate ‘Stellies corruption’ – Mathume
OPEN STELLENBOSCH (OS) has called for the dissolution of the Stellenbosch University (SU) council and a forensic investigation into its “corrupt” members.
The council met yesterday to discuss university matters, including SU’s language policy, which has come under intense scrutiny in recent months.
OS protested outside the meeting held at SU’s Tygerberg campus yesterday, accusing members of corruption and entrenching “institutional racism” in Stellenbosch.
“We have been doing research into the university council and we have reason to believe that not only is it block- ing transformation at the university, but that there is corruption,” said OS spokesperson Majaletje Mathume.
Mathume said members of the council include “right-wing pro-Afrikaner nationalists and billionaires”, and that it needed to probed for preventing transformation.
OS member and SU lecturer Kylie Thomas said several members of council served “sectional interests”.
“We need a forensic investigation into the research conducted at our universities and the uses to which it was put.
“We need to expose what is preventing the transformation of institutions of higher learning in the present.”
She said the situation went beyond decolonisation of SU’s curricula.
“It’s also about built environments and the structures that govern our institutions. If we recognise the relation between educational institutions, particularly universities, and the violence of apartheid, this raises the question of universities and the role they play in the persistence of inequality and violence today.”
Thomas claimed a group of conservative alumni, some top businessmen, have been strategically placing their peers in the university’s decision-making bodies. She said the men aimed to protect “white privilege” in Stellenbosch.
SU spokesperson Martin Viljoen said the council accepted various motions yesterday, related to transformation, the language policy, and approved the recommendation by its human resources committee that the appointment process for two vice-rectors be initiated.
He said changes to the language policy would be finalised at the council meeting in November.
Responding to OS’s allegations, he said: “Suspicions related to corruption or conflicts of interest may be reported to the ethics hotline (even anonymously), which is managed by an independent service provider, or the university’s ombudsman.