University of Pretoria (UP) entrances were pasted with “blacks only” and “no whites allowed” stickers on Monday, stirring controversy as racial tensions continue to simmer at the institution.
AfriForum Youth has taken responsibility for pasting the stickers outside the UP Hatfield campus, saying this was “to place the spotlight on racial exclusion and the university’s double standards”.
Signs with “whites only” and “no blacks allowed” were used by the apartheid government to separate people according to race. These have not been used in the country for nearly 30 years.
AfriForum Youth said it pasted the stickers because the university did not respond to its call for the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) to be deregistered as a student council and they wanted to apply pressure for this to happen.
The organisation wants the EFFSC to be banned after Tshwane EFF members protested outside the university last month and blocked gates, decrying racism, after a fight broke out between EFFSC members and a group of “white boys” during the student representative council (SRC) election campaign.
In a video circulated on social media, EFF Tshwane chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu, who stood outside the campus gate, can be heard saying “only black students, go back”.
AfriForum officer Louis Boshoff accused the university of having “double standards” by not publicly condemning the EFF’s protest.
“Students are being intimidated on UP’s Hatfield campus and excluded based on their race by the EFFSC UP. In the meantime the university washes its hands in innocence, but when there is a protest action that highlights this behaviour, Tukkies takes lightning-quick action and threatens disciplinary action. This is highly suspicious,” Boshoff said.
The institution has condemned the stickers, saying they advocate racism.
“We strongly condemn and are deeply disappointed by the public relations stunt carried out by mischievous individuals involving the placement of ‘no whites allowed’ stickers on certain entrances at the Hatfield Campus,” the university said.
“We will take immediate disciplinary action against those responsible for defacing the university’s property, and advocating for racism in an institution of higher learning dedicated to the education and transformation of South Africa.”
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