5 arrested on UFS campus

2008-02-27 13:06

Verashni Pillay

Bloemfontein - Hundreds of black and white students and staff of the University of the Free State marched on Wednesday in protest of an offensive student video showing black workers' dignity being violated.

Protesters handed over a memorandum to management demanding that the Reitz Hostel, where the video was made, be closed within the next two weeks.

The video surfaced on Tuesday, but was made last year September, according to university spokesperson Lacea Loader, and includes footage of a group of black workers eating meat that had been urinated on.

Loader told News24 that the march represented a moment of solidarity at the campus.

Shocked and horrified

"Everyone was shocked and horrified by the video so we all wanted to say that we are unhappy," she said.

The video has brought to light simmering tensions on the racially polarised campus where, up to the end of last year, white and black students lived in separate residences.

The rector, Professor Frederick Fourie, said at a media conference that the video clearly referred to the integration policy which was being implemented from this year by the university.

The policy lays down what percentages of black and white students will be allocated to the residences.

The video ends with the words: "That, at the end of the day, is what we think of integration."

Loader said that, in order to allow for emotions to calm down, all academic activities for the day were suspended and will resume on Thursday morning. Office activities will continue as normal.

Meanwhile Sapa reported that while the memorandum was handed over to university management, the police used stun grenades to disperse a group of students who gathered near Reitz Hostel.

Up to five students were allegedly arrested by police at the scene, but details were yet to be confirmed.

"It was apparent that there was a cult mentality that persists in the hostel ... that has to be eradicated," the memorandum read.

- News24