Let’s punish racists once and for all

We have been down this road before and we believe the folly of doing the same thing over and over again and still hoping for a different outcome has to be called out.

We are talking of course about yet another racial incident where again Africans are on the receiving end of bigoted minds that believe they are superior simply on the basis of the pigmentation of their skins.

The latest of such incidents to grab the nation played itself out in the University of Stellenbosch, perhaps perceived by some as the bastion and symbol of Afrikaner nationalism which in bigoted minds translates into some racebased superiority.

This time around a white student urinated on the belongings of an African student and declared “It’s a white thing, boy” when the victim asked him why he was doing what he was doing. It was all caught on the cellphone camera.

Sadly, Afrikaans or formerly Afrikaans places of learning have often been used by the warped minds as perfect places to practice racism where they could do as they please and treat the perceived outsider, often African, badly with impunity.

Many will recall a similar incident at the University of the Free State where again centre-stage was the white man’s urine visited on black victims. It’s a foul degradation meant to drive the bigot’s message home sans uncertainty.

However, in the democratic regime we have chosen since 1994, there is no place for racism. The problem has always been that it has always come across as Africans always seeking to extend the hand of reconciliation that is often not only rejected but violated in return.

The carrot has seemingly not worked if actions of such bigots are anything to go by. We have often seen such unprovoked attacks, many in the form of tweets by some who have sold themselves as non-racist but borne out by their actions as nothing but that. Often the attacks go unpunished.

It is time the stick replaced the carrot. It is not enough of Stellenbosch to announce that the racist has been suspended and that they would investigate. It is a cut-and-dried case and expulsion is the only way to deal with the racist.