South Africans horrified by weekend wee incident
Political parties and the public were calling for action against Theuns du Toit who urinated on a black student’s belongings at the University of Stellenbosch Huis Marais residence last weekend.
The portfolio committee on higher education, science and innovation said it was appalled and repulsed by the video.
Committee chair Nompendulo Mkhatshwa called on the university to conclude its investigation of the incident and make its findings public, to reassure the country that it strives for an inclusive student community.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dr Leon Schreiber said the party welcomed the formal investigation launched by Stellenbosch University management into the incident.
“The incident ... is humiliating, hurtful and infringed upon the constitutionally enshrined right to dignity of the victim, Babalo Ndwayana, who has since come forward publicly,” he said.
Action SA leader Herman Mashaba has called on students to stand up for each other to create an environment across campuses that would make it difficult for those who sought to have them regress to pre-1994 conditions by their appalling behaviour.
“As a country with a difficult, racially polarised and oppressed past, we can never condone actions of violence, intimidation or [the] belittling of one another.”
Bittereinders founder Devon Hofmeyr said the acts of this student should be condemned.
“No one asked for such behaviour or treatment. I hope they can resolve the matter and grab a beer afterwards,” Hofmeyr said.
Economic Freedom Fighters national spokesperson Xola Mehlomakulu said: “We demand the university ensure justice prevails. If not, ground forces of the [party’s students’ command] will find creative ways in its pursuit.”
Innocent Khumalo said the incident was disappointing.
He said he was a student in 1998, four years after apartheid ended, “so I experienced those things and I just accepted it. Now, 24 years later, and it is still happening. I was very disappointed”.
“It’s also not to say all white South Africans were like that, it’s just individuals.
“Someone like that is born free. Yet his actions reflect what he was being taught at his home.”
Financial management student Kgamogetswe Motau said she had not experienced racial discrimination. “It’s so sad. What he did was very wrong, it is cruel,” she said.
Someone like that is born free. Yet his actions reflect what he was being taught at his home.