Poo-throwing student hits back

WHILE Chumani Maxwele, the UCT student who flung faeces at the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, faces a disciplinary hearing for allegedly racially abusing and threatening a staff member, he has now laid a counter-complaint against the same lecturer.

Maxwele issued the university an official complaint yesterday, alleging that during the incident in question, he was victimised and racially profiled.

In her complaint, the staff member has alleged that Maxwele raised his voice at her after being told that a lecture venue was locked on May 1.

Maxwele allegedly banged on the door, pushed the staff member and said white people should be removed from UCT and killed.

Last week, he was suspended after being charged with intimidating, harassing, threatening racially abusing the lecturer.

Yesterday, a group of Rhodes Must Fall students protested on the steps of the Bremner building, where they met Maxwele after his first appearance at a disciplinary tribunal.

While Maxwele denied the allegations, he said that the hearing had been postponed as deliberations continued on whether he would be allowed to receive legal assistance.

He added that he was instead victimised for his involvement in the Rhodes Must Fall movement.

“For us, it is a political matter. It is intimidation from the university. They are isolating our issues from political challenges that are confronting the university.

“They try to deligitimise and criminalise us as black students. They frame us as criminals,” he said.

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