UFS prof's 'human project' in spotlight

28 February 2016 - 02:00 By JAN BORNMAN

"We were called k*****s and had eggs thrown at us," says one of the students involved in fighting at the University of the Free State during a varsity rugby match on Monday. Bongani, who would give only his first name, said he had white friends and did not hate white people."I have to be honest, though, it is going to take a while for me to speak to them again. I was hurt by what happened on Monday. It is going to be difficult going back to class, to sit next to a white student pretending like nothing happened. This is not the first time something like this has happened to us."The conflict once again cast the spotlight on a university that has been struggling with transformation.The university's student representative council president, Lindokuhle Ntuli, said UFS had not dealt with the "root causes" of the problem."This is just another Reitz incident. This is just another Gwebu incident," he said, referring to two racial incidents.In 2008, a video emerged of four white students from the Reitz men's residences humiliating black female workers. In 2014, two white students drove over Dumane "Muzi" Gwebu and went on to beat him up.Ntuli said vice-chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen's "human project" had failed. "We have lost confidence in Professor Jansen to transform this university. He talks about this amazing 'human project' that we have going on here, but we still have majority black and majority white residences."story_article_left1The latest protests started the week before the Varsity Cup match, when the university halted negotiations with the Workers-Students Forum, set up to negotiate on behalf of workers whose jobs had been outsourced.Ntuli said the forum had repeatedly asked to meet with Jansen. "He said ... his diary was full and he would get back to us ... We knew full well he would be at the game."Ntuli said university policy stipulated that black and white students could not be housed in the same room in a residence unless both consented to it."It is policies like these that show Jansen is more concerned with upholding minority interest than transforming the university to the benefit of all."Another claim is that students attending classes in Afrikaans - most of whom are white - receive summaries of textbooks, past exam papers and even memos, while others do not.UFS spokeswoman Lacea Loader denied both claims.Chantelle du Preez, AfriForum chairwoman at UFS, said of the violence: "Jansen and university management didn't do anything to stop this. We feel Prof Jansen should apologise for what happened this week."..

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