Race video: UFS partly to blame?

2008-02-27 16:22

Bloemfontein - The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was investigating whether the University of the Free State played a role in perpetuating human rights violations featured in a racist video compiled by its students.

"The commission is investigating whether the university played a role in perpetuating these violations and whether the university actually indirectly or directly took part by sanctioning some of them by allowing them to continue while it was aware of what was happening," the SAHRC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The video - featuring University of the Free State (UFS) employees on their knees eating food which had been urinated upon - was widely condemned by institutions and political parties.

The video, made by members of the Reitz men's residence on the Bloemfontein campus, came to the attention of the public on Tuesday.

This added to an already tense situation at the UFS after students rioted last week over the university's hostel integration policy.

The video depicts a mock initiation of five black staff members - four females and a man - into hostel activities and refers openly to the university's diversity policy for campus residences, which was announced last year.

The SAHRC had received complaints indicating that the university did not promote a culture of human rights, "in fact it allows and condones violations of human rights".

This was gleaned from the video, an advert on the university intranet system requesting a roommate which "should not be black and should be Christian", dehumanising initiation practices and lecturers making fun of a student with an albinism condition, the commission said.

The commission has submitted a letter to the university rector, which he should respond to within seven days, to assist in its investigation into racism and other human rights violations at the institution.

What steps taken>

The SAHRC questioned, in the letter, what steps the university had taken - given its "whites only" history - to promote racial tolerance.

It also questioned why, if the university upheld human rights, it could produce students capable of making the "dehumanising" video.

"Given its history, has the university audited its policies, rules and procedures to ensure that they conform to the human rights ethos as entrenched in the Constitution of the country?" the letter asked.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said the SAHRC should secure redress for the victims whose rights had been violated, investigate the underlying causes of racial tension at the university and other institutions facing similar challenges.

"This incident is symptomatic of racial tensions that have been simmering at the campus for some time over the issue of hostel integration," Zille said.

The SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) called for an official inquiry into racism at the UFS.

"The SA Democratic Teachers Union was appalled at the revelations of racism and abuse taking place at the University of the Free State," a union statement said.

Sadtu also called for the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, to conduct an official enquiry into this specific incident and "more importantly" the conditions prevailing at the university which allowed this kind of activity to take place.

ID commends 'swift action'

Independent Democrats leader Patricia De Lille called on parents to allow their children to grow up in an integrated South Africa, without the prejudices of the past.

The ID condemned the video and commended the university on taking "swift action" against it.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) condemned the "barbaric act".

Party president Bantu Holomisa said such an attack on the dignity of fellow South Africans had no place in the country's democracy.

"We commend the rector for the swift action taken against those involved," said Holomisa in a statement.

"These people should not be allowed to study at that university or any other institution of learning in this country."

Holomisa said further legal and criminal steps should be taken to punish the culprits.

'Inexcusable' - AfriForum

AfriForum, the civil rights initiative linked to Solidarity, strongly condemned the incident.

"The group of students' actions was inexcusable," said chief executive Kallie Kriel.

Kriel said he was sure that the small group's behaviour would be condemned by the majority of the students of the UFS.

He hoped the incident would not be used to place all students at the university in a bad light.

Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) youth leader Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg distanced the organisation from the "atrocities" on the video, reportedly produced at the university.

In a statement, Van Rensburg said the FF Plus youth would never condone nor justify the violation of the human dignity of any person.

The ANC Youth League called for tough action to be taken against the students involved.

"This barbaric act does not only denigrate and dehumanise those workers, but is a tip of the iceberg of what workers experience daily at the hands of racists who can't differentiate between a dog, baboon and a human being," an ANCYL statement read.

IFP: Racism rife at UFS

The organisation said the UFS had become "a haven of barbaric acts of racism" and urged management to demonstrate its commitment in building a non-racial society.

The Inkatha Freedom Party youth added its condemnation of the video, saying it was clear racism was "rife" at the university.

It said the video coupled with the banning of white journalists from a meeting organised by the Forum of Black Journalists last week had "no place" in a democratic South Africa.

"Both incidents have now stirred massive controversy in South Africa, with many drawing comparisons with the racist policies of the apartheid system.

"What is even more disheartening is that it seems that racial goodwill and respect for individual rights is still lacking thirteen years since the dawn of democracy."

"Both incidents have now stirred massive controversy in South Africa, with many drawing comparisons with the racist policies of the apartheid system.

'We need each other'

Meanwhile, the Apostolic Faith Mission has called on all South Africans "to accept the fact that we (both blacks and whites) are living in this country together, we need each other and we have to respect and appreciate one another".

The mission condemned the "perverted thinking" highlighted by the incident at the UFS.

"The humiliation and degrading of any human being is to be deplored.

"That this incident involves whites and black is even more serious in a country still trying to rid itself of the injustices of apartheid."

- SAPA