Cape Town - The Black Lawyers Association has thrown its weight behind the Stellenbosch University student who was humiliated when a fellow white pupil urinated on his study material, saying “it’s a white boy thing”.
In a statement, the association’s president Bayethe Maswazi said they were in the process of contacting Babalo Ndwayana’s family to ensure that they have all the necessary legal support and advice regarding any legal issues pertaining to this matter.
“The Black Lawyers Association (BLA) calls upon the University to speed up the investigation of the incident and conduct a thorough and transparent process of investigation and take all reasonable measures to ensure that in the event the perpetrator (Theuns du Toit) is found guilty, which is likely, he is expelled from institution with immediate effect and is barred from entering any tertiary institution in South Africa for a long period of time,” said Maswazi.
The organisation said the incident came as no surprise.
“What surprises us is that this incident occurs in an institution which has always assured South Africans that it is changing for the better. Clearly, the institution has not done nearly enough to ensure that the institution is a safe centre of scholarship and production of new knowledge where all are welcome to be prepared and moulded to help our country grow both socially and economically,” said Maswazi.
The organisation has called on the Ministry of Higher Education to ensure that institutions like Stellenbosch University that have in the past been bastions of Afrikaner domination were closely monitored to ensure that they put in place genuine programmes to teach cultural diversity and the values of the Constitution and ensure that this linked to clear milestones and outcomes.
Cape Times