The Stellenbosch student whose property was urinated on by a drunk fellow student has told TimesLIVE Premium he harboured no bad feelings towards Theuns du Toit, who has since been expelled.
But Babalo Ndwayana, 20, said he did want to see accountability.
Ndwayana spoke out almost two weeks after the institution’s central disciplinary committee (CDC) found Du Toit guilty of contravening its disciplinary code. Du Toit was filmed urinating in Ndwayana’s room at the Huis Marais residence on May 15.
The disciplinary hearing found him guilty of contravening five clauses of its institution’s disciplinary code, which includes no “student shall, without good and lawful reason, wilfully engage in any conduct which adversely affects the university, any member of the university community, or any person who is present on the university campus at the invitation of the university”.
She said I am, in fact, the real racist. She said I was given a chance to rise above the situation and pursue reconciliation. How are we supposed to forgive someone who has not asked us for forgiveness?
— Mkhuseli Kaduka
“These findings led the CDC to conclude there is no alternative but to expel Mr Du Toit with immediate effect from the university. Once Mr Du Toit has received the reasons for the CDC’s decision, he has five workdays to file a notice of appeal against the CDC’s finding and/or sanction,” the finding reads.
On Wednesday, Ndwayana told TimesLIVE Premium he was only seeking justice.
“I don’t have bad feelings against Theuns. I only want people to be held accountable,” he said.
His father, Mkhuseli Kaduka, said the “fight was far from over”.
He said Du Toit and his family had not reached out to his son and apologised.
“The family has not tried to engage me at all. This happened during the early hours of Sunday morning. I waited for the student’s parents to reach out to me,” he said.
“I would have expected any parent who does not support his or her child’s misdemeanour to try to reach out to the victim. I realised on Tuesday evening that the olive branch I had extended was not accepted. I realised then that there won’t be any civil engagement.
“I only saw this young man on an Afrikaans programme saying he is apologising to Babalo. He also apologised in a video that was directed to fellow students but not directly to Babalo. The other students did not suffer the indignity Babalo suffered.”
Kaduka said he had been inundated with hate mail accusing him of being racist. He even received a message on Facebook threatening to boycott the vehicle manufacturing company he works for.
“The person said I took an incident, committed by a drunk student, and turned it into a racism incident,” he said.
“She said I am, in fact, the real racist. She said I was given a chance to rise above the situation and pursue reconciliation. How are we supposed to forgive someone who has not asked us for forgiveness?”
Kaduka said he was disappointed with the justice system.
“We opened a criminal case two months ago, but there has been no arrest,” he said.
“We were told the docket had been handed to prosecution for a decision. I thought when the hearing findings were released, the criminal case would gain momentum. They have all the evidence and all the items that were peed on. I have avoided politicising this incident. I know politicians use such incidents for grandstanding and disappear afterwards.”
Kaduka did not rule out a lawsuit against Du Toit.
“We are still waiting for a cue from our lawyers. We are taking all these cases one step at a time. All I can say is that this fight is far from over. I want this to go beyond his expulsion from Stellenbosch,” he said.
Du Toit’s lawyer William Fullard said he appealed the CDC’s finding.
“Theuns has lodged an appeal against the findings of the CDC with the university in terms of their disciplinary code,” Fullard said.
“Theuns and his family most definitely feel that the findings of the CDC were unjust and therefore the appeal.”
He said the spotlight had taken its toll on Du Toit and his family.
Fullard said Du Toit and his father, Rudi, have apologised to Ndwayana several times.
“The whole matter, especially the tremendous amount of media coverage, had a devastating emotional effect on Theuns and his family,” he said.
“Theuns did apologise to Babalo no less than three times on that very Sunday (day of the incident). Theuns also again apologised to Babalo on television, the programme aired on 28 July (on) Wie’s Nuus (on) channel 144. Rudi du Toit, Theuns’s father, also apologised to Babalo’s father during a telephone conversation a few days after the incident.”
Fullard added: “Theuns made a mistake by consuming way too much alcohol, which inter alia had a severe effect on his level of consciousness, orientation and memory. His actions were not wilful or racially motivated at all.”
The disciplinary hearing judgment, expelling Du Toit, provided a scathing assessment of the “drinking culture” at Stellenbosch University.
The disciplinary panel heard Du Toit and a friend had the night before the incident consumed half a bottle of brandy at their residence, Huis Marais. They then went to two establishments where Du Toit consumed eight double brandies (making up a minimum of 16 shots).
“In total, the accused consumed about one-and-a-half bottles of brandy between 7pm/8pm on May 14 and 2am/3am on May 15. During this period the accused states he periodically ‘blanked out’. His alcohol consumption led to him failing to render or remember periods of the time at the establishments.”
They returned to the residence at 3am, and after the incident occurred, Du Toit indicated he passed out and only later heard what he had done in the early hours of the morning.
The judgment said: “The truth is alcohol abuse is, ironically, drinking the country dry. SU is not excluded from this issue. Unfortunately, the longer the excessive use of alcohol and the resultant defence of intoxication is used to protect an individual from the consequences of their actions, the longer this systemic problem will continue.”
The panel said: “A hard stance must be taken. Students are adults, and they must be aware their actions carry consequences.”
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