He had to take strong measures against the perpetrators
The four are RC Malherbe, Johnny Roberts, Schalk van der Merwe and Danie Grobler, formerly of the Reitz men's residence, which has been closed.
DOCUMENT: Read Jonathan Jansen's full speech
VIDEO: The racist mock initiation video
They face charges of crimen injuria in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court next Monday.
Yesterday, the SA Student Congress said that it supported Jansen's decision to forgive the four. But the ANC Youth League said that Jansen had committed his "first blunder" in his new job.
Jansen, speaking on Friday during his inauguration, apologised to the country for the 2007 incident in which four white students duped some black cleaners into eating food that appeared to have been urinated on.
Jansen has banned initiation rituals and the consumption of alcohol at the university.
"Any senior student who lays a hand on a first-year student will not only be brought before a disciplinary committee, but will face criminal prosecution in the courts," Jansen said on Friday.
Yesterday, the Young Communist League slammed Jansen for trying to deviate from the racism issues at the Reitz men's residence.
"He was supposed to send a strong message that his institution will not be tolerant of racist behaviour. He had to be firm in dealing with this issue and also take strong measures against the perpetrators," said league spokeswoman Gugu Ndima.
"This is a race issue and we cannot run away from it," she said.
But yesterday Sasco threw its weight behind Jansen saying students, despite the gravity of their offence, should not be denied their right to education.
"We as the Sasco believe that the conduct of the students was not a spontaneous act of evil," said Sasco president Mawethu Rune.
"We believe that what they did was a serious crime against humanity."
He said the students should be taken through a disciplinary and rehabilitation processes and not be denied the opportunity to study.
"To us, disciplining students means making a better person out of them and not keeping them out of school," he said.
ANC Youth League spokesman Floyd Shivambo yesterday described Jansen's decision as "very unfortunate".
"Those kids needed to be punished for violating the worker's human rights," Shivambo said. "This is Jansen's first blunder on the job. It is totally unacceptable."
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has asked Jansen for an explanation of his decision to drop the charges against the four students.
The DA yesterday welcomed Jansen's decision, saying that he will not be "pushed around by the political authorities".
Meanwhile, Sasco's Rune also took a swipe at a decision by the department of basic education to release this year's matric results in January.
A recent report claimed that students were engaging in prostitution to get money to pay for their tuition. Rune urged them to refrain from doing so.
"The ANC-led government needs to provide books or stationery in order to prevent students from prostituting themselves in order to pay for their education," he said.
Loading...
Tackler