Anti-Israel students: We'll make no amends

21 January 2014 - 02:35 By JAN BORNMAN
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Students at the Wits University (University of the Witwatersrand) in Braamfontein.
Students at the Wits University (University of the Witwatersrand) in Braamfontein.
Image: Gallo Images/City Press/Yandisa Monakali

The 10 Wits University students who were found guilty of disrupting a concert by Israeli-born pianist Yossi Reshet in March last year plan to appeal their two-year suspended expulsions.

Tokelo Nhlapo, who was the deputy president of the Student Representative Council last year, said the students were not prepared to do a "single minute" of the 80 hours of community service the university had ordered them to carry out.

"As far as I'm concerned, none of the people found guilty by the kangaroo court are prepared to do community service," he said, adding that they were doing their part "as community leaders to stand up against the injustice of Zionism".

Vice-Chancellor Prof Adam Habib yesterday warned "they ran the risk of being expelled should they refuse to abide by the rules and disciplinary codes of the university".

The students had violated the rights of other people to express their views, Habib said.

The students' expulsions were suspended for two years, on condition they were not guilty of further misconduct during that period.

Habib said the university's management had wanted the students to realise they had "violated the very soul of the university" by not allowing other people to express their views, "yet we didn't want to destroy their futures".

"I think it is an appropriate balance that was struck," said Habib.

He said the nature of the community service work would be determined at the end of the week.

Nhlapo was previously threatened with a complaint of hate speech by AfriForum Youth for singing an altered version of Shoot the Boerbefore Julius Malema arrived to deliver a lecture on "economic freedom" in 2011.

Wits students who sang the song replaced the words " dubula iBhunu " (shoot the Boer) with " dubula lekgoa ", which means "shoot the whites".

Nhlapo said yesterday the charge had not been pursued.

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