Cape Town - The Afrikanerbond has launched a scathing attack on Justice Khampepe’s recent damning report on racism at Stellenbosch University (SU), describing it as 184 pages of “woke theory”.
The political organisation is the latest to criticise the findings of the report.
The university last week received the report of the independent Khampepe Commission led by retired Judge Sisi Khampepe. It found that black students and staff still felt unwelcome and excluded at the institution.
The leadership of the university had requested the external independent inquiry into alleged racism at the university in May.
But chief secretary of the Afrikanerbond, Jan Bosman, said the report has failed to engage with the allegations on a factual basis.
“Instead, it becomes a protest against Afrikaans, white people and Afrikaners.
In the judge’s introduction to the report, three definitions of transformation are employed, each of which is crafted to support the university’s ultimate objective.
“On closer inspection, however, it becomes apparent that the latter objective contains no mention of any attempt to accommodate diverse groups in the ‘transformed university’.
“Instead, diversity becomes a scapegoat that is sacrificed in the pursuance of one-sided ‘inclusivity’ and ‘transformation’. Under this approach, Afrikaans is regarded as being exclusive, and transformation becomes nothing more than the replacement of white with black and Afrikaans with English,” he said.
Bosman added that on page 56 of the report, Stellenbosch becomes a town of “many conservative, typically white, Afrikaners who bear racist and other bigoted beliefs and attitudes”.
But he said no attempt is made to substantiate the allegations with facts.
“These are generalised statements that are unfair and indeed pejorative to both the town and its community.”
Bosman told the Cape Times on Sunday that the report did not deal with individual alleged racist incidents.
“These are individual matters and should be investigated and be subjected to law and legal routes. This report is dealing with transformation and Afrikaans. Student behaviour in recent incidents cannot be condoned and should be dealt with. It has nothing to do with Afrikaans, and to generalise and to accuse a town, community, or language is wrong”.
Spokesperson of the Black People’s National Crisis Committee (BPNCC) Songezo Mazizi said the current leadership of the university is not ready to deal with institutional racism.
“Racism is deeply institutional at the university and thus it is part of the institutional culture of that university. We welcome the Khampepe Commission’s report and its recommendations. However, we would like to put it on record that this report and its recommendations will not help in the case of racism at the university,” he said.
Stellenbosch University rector and vice-chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers said they were in a process of studying the report.
“The report of the Khampepe Commission, with its findings and recommendations, is a tipping point for SU.
In appointing the commission and requesting the inquiry, SU made itself vulnerable and exposed itself to possible criticism.
“However, with a view to the future, we regard this commission as an important investment in the wellness of our university.
This is a sobering moment for the university. It is evident that black staff members and students do not feel welcome here, despite our deliberate transformation efforts to date.
“We must face the reality that there is a gap between our intentions with regards to various transformation initiatives and the implementation thereof,” De Villiers said.
Cape Times