Question: Do you think apartheid has ended? read story?
14 years after the end of apartheid, white students force cleaners to drink urine soup because they don't want to live with blacks; Jonathan Clayton Jonathan Clayton, Johannesburg
Times of London 02-28-2008
14 years after the end of apartheid, white students force cleaners to drink urine soup because they don't want to live with blacks
Byline: Jonathan Clayton Jonathan Clayton, Johannesburg
Edition: Final 1
Section: Overseas News
Type: News
A video showing four white Afrikaner students forcing five black domestic workers to eat dirty meat and drink soup into which they had urinated has inflamed racial tensions and provoked violent protests between students
The home-made video, which was made to protest about moves to integrate black and white students in the same university residences, shows students at the University of the Free State humiliating black workers, some of whom are elderly
A violent backlash against the film caused all classes to be suspended yesterday as hundreds of staff and students marched in protest. Police fired stun grenades to disperse an angry crowd gathered outside the whites-only halls of residence where the film was shot.
In the videothe white students, who make no attempt to hide their faces, order the black people who were cleaners at the whites-only Reitz hostel to down full bottles of beer. They then lead them to a playing field where they are told to display their athletic skills. In the final extract a white man urinates on food and into a plastic soup container. Then, shouting: "Take! Take!" in Afrikaans - he apparently forces the campus employees to eat the dirty food, causing them to vomit.
A narrative in Afrikaans indicates that the recording was made in protest against the university integration policy. Last month there were angry demonstrations on campus against the policy by mainly white students. "Once upon a time the boere (Afrikaners) lived peacefully here on Reitz Island, until one day when the less- advantaged discovered the word 'integration' in the dictionary," a resident of the men's hostel says.
The video ends with the words: "That, at the end of the day, is what we think of integration." Anton Fisher, a university spokesman, said that the cleaners, four women and one man, were duped - an act which has increased anger over the video.
The spectacle of young whites exploiting older black cleaners, considered to be some of the most vulnerable people in the country, has outraged public opinion across the spectrum and triggered nationwide soul-searching over the level of racism in the country 14 years since the end of apartheid. It comes at a time of increased political tension with many whites accusing the Government of having abandoned its all-inclusive "rainbow nation" approach in favour of positive discrimination which they say has veered towards reverse racism. Blacks have countered that Nelson Mandela tried too hard to reconcile with old-school whites who refuse to change their ways.
The university, which is located in what was previously the Orange Free State - a bastion of Afrikanerdom - is known for having predominantly white students since the days of apartheid. It has encountered difficulties trying to integrate people from other racial groups. Student groups say that they are now planning to call nationwide anti-racism demonstrations in response to the video.
Frederick Fourie, the university's rector, said that he was "extremely upset about the incident".
The four students who have been identified in the video could face serious action. Two have already left the university and so cannot be suspended or expelled, but all four could face criminal charges.
Feelings are running high on the campus, which has split along racial lines over the issue. Many white students - while distancing themselves from the video - say that the four are in danger of being made scapegoats over a policy of integration that is being forced down their throats. Black students say that they cannot study alongside white students who do not unequivocally condemn the video and its purpose.
The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said yesterday that racial tensions in the country appear to have risen over the past month.
Frans Cronje, the deputy chief executive officer at the institute, said that a spate of recent events raised concerns about whether South Africa was able to build on the general improvement in race relations the institute has monitored over the past years.
He referred to a racist shooting in the North West of the country, where a young white man allegedly went on a shooting spree in a township that claimed several black lives, including a young child. The Forum for Black Journalists then ejected white colleagues from a recent "blacks only" meeting with Jacob Zuma, the newly elected President of the ruling African National Congress. Mr Zuma, who is in line to take over as the country's president when Thabo Mbeki steps down in 2009, said that he saw nothing wrong with a "blacks only" meeting - a comment which many non-blacks interpreted as the end of an attempt to build an all-inclusive, multi-racial society as promised in the ANC's founding charter and the country's current constitution.
"Actions such as these shown on the video will do great damage to race relations in South Africa. It probably sets us back a significant amount of time," Mr Cronje said.
*See the campus video that sparked the riots timesonline.co.uk/ world
Illustrations/Photos:
Caption: The white students brazenly showed their faces in the video
showing howthey humiliated black cleaners;All classes were suspended
as protestersmassed outside the campus. Photograph by MAGDA KOCK
Relation Questions:
Answer:
The events you quote, are disgusting, and has sent shockwaves and distancing statements from accross South Africa, including and especially the community to which the offending students belong.
But before you decide in a haste which whole communities are "good guys" are "bad guys", I would like to point out that racial incidents happen on a daily basis in South Africa, and most of these incedents are black on white, and involve murder, rape and assault. In fact on the campus in question, the amount of physical assault in retaliation on innocent students just because their skins are to light, allready number in the dozens.
Other racial incidents are quite, quite shocking. South Africa is a sick country. Look at these genocidal racial murders, that the South African government tacidly supports, and that the international media largely ignores:
www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htm
www.stopboergenocide.com
I myself has faced many instances of discrimmination, where my skin was not dark enough. These are institionalized by the way, meaning they are South African law. These laws were made 10 years ago to "reverse" the effects of Apartheid, but they are written such that most of the beneficiaries are ruling party officials, to which private companies are forced to surrender shares.Patrice Motsepe has made the Forbes fortune 500 list of the richest billionaires in the world, from being one of the beneficiaries of this law, just because his skin is black and his got connections. All that while most of his countryfolk barely have enough to eat.
Yes, Apartheid has ended, but has been replaced by something as bad, and in many respects worse. I wish the international media will give as much attention to ethnic murder, as it does into looking long and hard to find a report 4 ill-adapted deranged students in order to "prove" that this and that community are "the problem".
It is not that simple.
The fact that these guys targeted poor Africans that were at work says alot about them. Why not target fellow students instead? The position of these African workers as cleaners doesn't pose a great threat to the students that targeted them. Or does it?
Angelita, I too know what you have seen. Thanks for sharing. We often hear about the high crime rate but that's a part no one ever talks about.
Well, unfortunately, there are racial tensions there. I was there in the Gauteng province of Johannesburg recently to visit family and I can tell you that although the Apartheid system has been officially abolished, there is still a lot of work to be done or should I say, a lot that has to be undone. The whites are still a lot better of than most blacks and live in better, secluded, and "secured" neighborhoods and gated communities. A lot of blacks still live in townships, squatter camps, or very poor rural areas.
Everyone knows that unless you are an Afrikaaner, you probably wouldn't want to go to the Freestate, it is like going into some KKK territory down in the south. Honestly, while I was there, I happened to come across a lot of white people who were hateful against blacks and didn't have a problem showing it. It was disgusting, but that's not everyone there, there are a some whites who are proudly South African and are warming up to the idea of equality, multiculturalism, and diversity. Overall, the crime rate is pretty high especially in Jo berg, it's no joke.