Unathi lashed for ‘defending Stellenbosch racism’ (video)
Musician Unathi Msengana caused a stir on twitter on Monday when she seemingly tried to defend Stellenbosch University’s language policy that isolates black students.
Unathi Nkayi. (File photo by Gallo Images/Sowetan/Elvis Ntombela)
The conversation, which started on Msengana’s radio show on Metro FM, was sparked by Luister, a documentary on the continuing racism that black students experience at the university.
A large part of the documentary also deals with the fact that while the university is meant to be multilingual, Afrikaans is still the predominant language in lectures, putting those who do not speak the language at a disadvantage.
Msengana apparently said black students in Stellenbosch who cannot speak Afrikaans must have known that language would be an issue before they applied to study there.
“You cannot say that they said Afrikaans wouldn’t [be an issue]. How do we fight for you. That’s my point. Be fair guys. I know it hurts,” She wrote to a twitter user under the handle @ThisIsPalo.
It wasn’t long before the Idols SA judge trended on the social network, with many users slamming her views.
“Unathi is trying to belittle the struggles of the students at Stellies,” wrote Attie Matyalana. “Unathi I pray your kids will grow up to be smarter than you. Heck I hope they manage to get into Stellies,” another user wrote.
Msengana couldn’t comment at the time. She said “my flight is about to leave, can we please talk tomorrow [Tuesday]”.
Watch video
This is what people said on Twitter:
Unathi is trying to belittle the struggles of the students at Stellies. Stellies is in South Africa. Respect policy pha kokwenu.
— Athi (@Athi_Mat) August 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/Sentletse/status/635780124776992768
Me: So much racism at my workplace.
Unathi: Maybe if you did your research before you applied
you would have known it is.
#UnathiBeLike— Mzizana (@LungisaMzie) August 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/ImKhweziN/status/635741348654661632
Unathi is trying to belittle the struggles of the students at Stellies. Stellies is in South Africa. Respect policy pha kokwenu.
— Athi (@Athi_Mat) August 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/Urban_Xhosa/status/635784433522581504
Listened to that radio interview With Unathi & the Stellies student this morning. My Dad was so dumbfounded he change the channel.
— Gugu Phandle (@GugsOutside) August 24, 2015
So Unathi finds appropriate to disregard and dismiss black experiences in Stellies – Because ? #OpenStellenbosch #Luister
— Mzizana (@LungisaMzie) August 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/MeemZ_26/status/635719312209235968
