<div dir="ltr"><h2 class="">Portfolio committee calls for Stellenbosch University meeting following allegations of racism and violence</h2>
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RDM News Wire | 25 August, 2015 16:54</div>
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Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and
Training will call the Stellenbosch University management to an urgent
meeting in light of the latest allegations of racism and violence at the
institution.</h3>
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<p>The committee agreed at their meeting on Tuesday morning that
the university’s management had to appear in Parliament to table their
transformation plans. </p><p>Committee chairperson Yvonne Phosa said‚
“We noted with serious concern the allegations of racism and violence at
Stellenbosch University. We are 21 years into a democratic South Africa
and such alleged acts certainly have no place in our society.</p><p>“We
urge the Stellenbosch University management to swiftly deal with these
allegations. We are aware that there are some measures that the
university has put in place to ensure that there is transformation at
Stellenbosch University and that the institution becomes socially
inclusive.</p><p>“But such efforts have to be sped up to ensure that
allegations such as those revealed in the Luister video are dealt with
and do not rear their ugly head again in future. It is one thing to talk
about plans which are on paper but we would like to see those plans
being implemented.” </p><p>Released in August‚ the Luister video is a
documentary distributed via social media which shows how students are
allegedly still exposed to the dehumanising experiences of racism and
other forms of discrimination. It is a series of interviews with
students who talk about their personal accounts of race-based
discrimination and even violence at the university.</p><p>Phosa said the
committee was working on setting up a meeting with the university
management as soon as possible. “The issue of transformation at
Stellenbosch University has been on the committee’s agenda and we were
supposed to have had an oversight visit to the institution in July but
this was cancelled due to a number of factors on the university’s side‚”
she said. </p><p>Phosa said that the committee was going to
reprioritise its programme to give immediate attention to this pressing
matter. “Given the urgency of the matter‚ we are going to call the
institution to Parliament as soon as possible. </p><p>We want to be able
to have a meaningful dialogue with the university leadership and
impress upon them that the transformation of any public institution of
higher learning cannot be postponed.</p><p>“What we are clear on is that
we cannot have a situation whereby a public university’s language
policy serves as a barrier that ultimately shuts out some students from
accessing higher education and training opportunities‚” she said. </p><p>Phosa
reassured the students and staff members who are victims of this
alleged racism and violence at the university that “as a committee‚ we
will certainly not only listen to their outcry but we will ensure that
concrete action is taken to address the issues raised and ensure that
they work and learn in an environment characterised by social cohesion”.
</p><p>“While we acknowledge that Afrikaans speaking students have a
right to be taught in the language they prefer‚ we also want to state
that it is of paramount importance to recognise that any other student
at the university has the right to access higher education in a language
they are conversant with‚” she said.</p><p><a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2015/08/25/Portfolio-committee-calls-for-Stellenbosch-University-meeting-following-allegations-of-racism-and-violence">http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2015/08/25/Portfolio-committee-calls-for-Stellenbosch-University-meeting-following-allegations-of-racism-and-violence</a><br></p><div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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