Race row over comments on ‘talking walls’
A RACE row has erupted at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University after a project to mark 20 years of democracy in South Africa backfired.
The university’s “talking walls” project, aimed at encouraging staff and students to speak about democracy, yielded a range of offensive statements.
The white boards that served as the talking walls saw responses ranging from the silly – one stu- dent suggested free alcohol in the canteen – to the more serious “F**k whites” which fanned racial tension.
Also upsetting to some, was a statement that suggested fewer whites should be at the university.
The offensive statements were written on boards at the university’s 2nd Avenue campus.
Students on campus yesterday expressed outrage, saying the perpetrators should be punished.
The boards have been pulled off the walls and left lying in a passage. The offensive messages have been wiped off. Management student Tiffany Francis, 21, said: “The past is in the past and we must work together to make the future better.
“They [the university] should have a disciplinary hearing to prevent it happening again.”
Marketing student Hlumisa Sithonga, 20, believed the issue stemmed from some blacks believing whites were more privileged.
She said a small-town mentality was behind the remarks.
However, she also felt the messages constituted freedom of speech. “It’s freedom of speech and if that’s how they [students] feel, we cannot run away from it.”
Business management student Stacey-Leigh Murphy, 22, said: “Apartheid is old news, they should just keep their opinions to themselves.”
Marketing student Sanela Genu, 20, thought the students responsible should be expelled. “They brought the [varsity’s] name into disrepute.”
NMMU spokeswoman Roslyn Baatjies said the university was saddened by the offensive comments, especially as it was celebrating Diversity Month.
“We would like to believe this is an isolated incident and does not reflect the feelings of the majority of staff and students.
“We have done an inventory of the Democracy Walls on the other NMMU campuses and these offensive comments are only manifesting on the 2nd Avenue campus.”
Baatjies said the comments had been written anonymously and it was impossible to know who was responsible.
She said the initiative formed part of Higher Education South Africa’s Common Campaign Day project to encourage all higher education institutions to commonly mark 20 years of democracy.