South African Students Accused Of Making Racist Video Should Be Reinstated, Says Academic

A two-year-old video widely seen as racist is sparking debate in Africa again after an academic called for the students involved to be allowed to resume their studies.

Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Free State Jonathan D Jansen, himself a black South African, made the speech two weeks ago. In the speech, Jansen brought up the infamous Reitz case, in which four white students were kicked out of school and faced criminal charges after making a video that apparently showed them urinating on food and then forcing black members of staff to eat the food.

The speech was widely reported, including in the South African paper The Star which ran the transcript of the speech. One part read:

...to dismiss the video as a product of four bad apples is too easy an explanation. This video-recording was preceded by a long series of racial incidents protesting racial integration especially in the residences of the university. Not all of these racially-charged incidents made the press; in fact, were it not for the public release of the video-recording, no-one outside the university would have known about it. And few outside the campus realise that what is now regarded as an offensive video-production in fact won an institutional award for its content.

After the speech, many outlets reported that the students were formally allowed to resume their studies. CNN reported that it was not known if the students had decided to return.

On Monday Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande demanded that Jansen make clear if he was reinstating the students or not, according to The Star.

Whilst the students may be allowed back to study, they are still facing potential criminal charges. However, the AFP reported Monday that the case will be delayed and will now not reach the courts until February 2010.

Christian Science Monitor wrote on the implications of Jansen's speech and highlighted how the incident has revealed divisions that many thought were past:

Many white South Africans welcomed Mr. Jansen's speech as a sign of reconciliation, in the mold of Nobel peace prize laureates President Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu. Many blacks - and much of the leadership of the ruling African National Congress party - attacked the speech as naive and not tough enough on the racism that persists even 15 years after the fall of the white-dominated apartheid government. All of this raises troubling questions about how much has actually changed in racial attitudes in South Africa, and what it will take to bring both reconciliation and social change to segments of society that, seemingly, are not quite ready to change.

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Christopher Calton]

Oh there is lingering racism in South Africa, and most of it is against the whites. I just returned from there. And don't bring up the poverty argument, it isn't poverty when you gang-rape and slice the throat of a 5'1 woman that weighs all of 85 pounds for a DVD player. As if she would have stopped you. That was a friend of mine, and it wasn't even reported in the papers because of how common it is.

[MadeInAmerica]

Most people don't realize that South Africa is now run by Black Africans period. There has been a total reversal of power. So, lingering racism among whites has little Impact.

However, what you describe is a pure and simple revenge mentality. Sad as it may be, we are talking about people who hate due to their own life experiences. Some would say with good reason. I will not speculate.

But, I will say this...it'­s always sad when an innocent person is subjected to such hatred. And, in the name of fairness, I will assume this about your friend.

[lungfish]

Perhaps they should be reinstated to a school with a predominately non-white class..... immerse them in the people they hate and let them figure out that they are wrong....

[isaidit]

Reinstate them. why not? They may still opt out, but the fact is education is the only real answer to race stupidity. Punishment doesn't solve it. Legislation neither. Sure they are low-class pieces of work, but let it's not like the did rape or murder. They should pay a stiff fine with the money going back to the victims. And then get on with life.

[1dogs2]

Take it from an American: it will take many years for racism to dissipate, and even then, an undercurrent will remain, ready to burst forth when there is an economic downturn or a particularly nasty political climate. Given their minority status, white South African racists might do well to emigrate. Just don't come here.

[MadridFrank]

yes,many are trying to leave as the country slowing implodes. The future of SA is Zimbabwe!

[Berkeleylefty]

Nearly 91% of the population is non-white http://www.statssa.gov.za//PublicationsHTML/P03022009/html/P03022009.html)

What were these "students" thinking? It looks like they have not learned a thing...

[isaidit]

"We are God's chosen." Check out some Eugene Terblanch's bs about how God sent whites to S. Africa for His work. I saw a video at one of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings in which he had a man of the cloth address his followers to back up his lunacy with Bibilcal references and what passes for logic among that segment of white S. Africans. BTW, not all white S. Africans are so full of hate. I learned there that many individuals and families helped the black cause. Some of them lost family because of it.

[wwoody]

Do they want to start a race war? a war that they can't possibly win, these young men must don't understand the history of their country. A country who wounds still hasn't healed due to racism.

[Jaxy]

I lived in West Africa for most of my childhood and my entire adolescence. I can tell you that the news we heard coming out of South Africa during the 1970's and 1980's were perfectly hair-raising.

My sense is that these white S.A. students need to learn a very strong lesson on respecting the fundamental humanity of others - even (gasp!) Blacks. Reinstating them at the same university where they committed these purportedly criminal acts is a wrong-headed plan. Prosecute them.

[socialtalker]

reinstating???? are they serious?
why? those students can go to another college anywhere in the world! this is bizarre.

[isaidit]

How can the go anywhere in the world? You need to be admitted. you need funds. It's not quite so simple, is all i'm saying.

[lionzion]

They have taught them turn the other cheek, and while they they their cheek, get stab in their kidneys. T.I.A!!