‘Hit job on Afrikaans’: DA condemns report on racism at Stellenbosch University – again

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is continuing its attack on retired Constitutional Court judge Sisi Khampepe’s report into alleged racism at Stellenbosch University.

Khampepe’s report was released by the university on Tuesday.

It recommended that Stellenbosch University review its language policy in order to ensure there is no historical preference for Afrikaans.

Racism at Stellenbosch University

‘Black people feel unwelcome’

Khampepe said many black students and staff members at the university felt unwelcome and excluded.

The Khampepe commission started in June after first-year law student Theuns du Toit was suspended when a video showed him urinating on the desk of black student Babalo Ndwayana.

In September, another student was suspended after he urinated on his roommate’s chair at the Helshoogte men’s residence.

The student is believed to be a white student, and the victim a coloured student.

ALSO READ: Another Stellenbosch University student suspended for urinating on roommate’s chair

Despite this, the DA’s Leon Schreiber said Khampepe’s report “scapegoats the Afrikaans language for any problems at the university”.

“Equating Afrikaans with racism is not only a disgusting insult to an entire language community in South Africa; it is also completely irrational, based on anecdotal and wholly unrepresentative evidence”.

Schreiber said it was “at odds with everything our constitutional democracy stands for”.

‘Hit job on Afrikaans’

On Thursday, Schreiber continued his attack on the report, claiming it is a “hit job on Afrikaans”.

The reason for this, according to Schreiber, is the Khampepe Commission only interviewed one witness during its proceedings.

He added that the commission only received 22 voluntary submissions.

“With over 33 000 students and staff members, this means that less than 0.7% of the Stellenbosch University community were sufficiently concerned about problems on campus to even bother approaching the commission”, he said.

Schreiber claims Khampepe then asked Stellenbosch University’s management to provide her with more witnesses.

He said vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University, Professor Wim de Villiers, then sent the retired judge a list of names.

“The university provided a list of suggested witnesses, including students and members of staff and management, who in its view could provide relevant evidence.”

ALSO READ: DA has ‘missed the point’ with Stellenbosch

AfriForum also slams report

The DA wasn’t the only organisation to express their unhappiness with the report.

Lobby group AfriForum said the rights of Afrikaans speakers “cannot be taken away from them in response to the misconduct of [a few] individuals”.

“Much is made of the feeling of exclusion experienced by non-Afrikaans-speaking students and staff even when the language is used in informal conversations,” said AfriForum’s head of cultural affairs Alana Bailey.

“What about the brown, black and white Afrikaans-speaking students, and staff’s feeling of exclusion when they are not allowed to use their language?”