‘Cry for transformation going on for years’
‘Management is just paying lip service at Stellies’
Student bodies say they are vindicated by the finding that black students and staff members still feel unwelcome and excluded at Stellenbosch University, as they have been making this “cry” for inclusion for years.
SA Students Congress convener in the Western Cape Sifiso Zungu said the findings by retired Constitutional Court justice Sisi Khampepe in her commission of inquiry into allegations of racism report came as no surprise.
“We are not shocked at all. The findings of this report confirm what we have been telling the university. Our cry has always been that the residence culture is untransformed and needs to change,” said Zungu.
Higher Education Transformation Network deputy executive director Orapeleng Matshediso echoed the sentiments. “The institutional culture at that university is not transformed. There is no transformation agenda…The university management is just paying a lip service when it talks about transformation.”
The commission’s investigation came on the back of incidents of alleged racism that have rocked the university over the past few months.
In May, Theuns du Toit, a white student, was caught on camera urinating on first-year student Babalwa Ndwayana’s desk, laptop and books at the Huis Marais men’s residence. The NPA said at the time it would prosecute Du Toit for malicious damage to property and crimen injuria.
The commission found that the culture at Huis Marais was not socially cohesive and that the residence head and student leaders did not support the transformation project.
“Although the university appears to have in its arsenal a formidable transformation apparatus, black students and staff members still feel unwelcome and excluded at the uni versity,” Khampepe said.
The commission formally began its work on June 13 to investigate, among others, incidents of alleged racism, the state of racial diversity and inclusion in the campus culture and whether current policies are sufficient to deal with lived experiences of students and staff experiencing racism.
Among others, the commission recommended that the university should implement a compulsory module for first years to teach them about transformation and equality matters, offer compulsory training on discrimination and transformation for all staff members and take decisive action to change the leadership of Huis Marais, starting with the residence head.
Zungu said he had no confidence in the leadership of the university to implement the recommendations.
“As much as we have no confidence in them [university management], we are going to push them to implement these recommendations. We have to take it upon ourselves to make sure these recommendations are put in place.
“There is a transformation department within the university that is dominated by staff members. The report recommended that students should also form part of this structure and we will fight to ensure that we are part of it,” said Zungu.
Yesterday, the university held an online media briefing to outline its plans with the report’s recommendations.
The university’s rector and vice-chancellor Prof Wim de Villiers was non-committal on whether the institution would implement all the recommendations. “It is evident that black staff members and students do not feel welcome here, despite our deliberate transformation efforts to date. We are in a process of studying the report and we will fully engage with the findings and recommendations.
“This is a top priority for the university. There is no specific timelines [as to when we will implement the recommendations]. Some will be easier to implement while some we will need to assess them,” he said.