A large group of students from Stellenbosch University (SU) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) recently demanded the SU rectorate to take an anti-apartheid and anti-genocide stance against Israel following a march in Stellenbosch.
This is according to Malaika Ngwenya, a fourth-year LLB student and member of the Student Action for Palestine (SA4P) society.
Stellenbosch University (SU) students and students from the University of the Western Cape, recently gathered outside the Administration B building at SU in a march to request that SU rectorate take an anti-genocide stance against Israel. Pictured above is Aiden Fitzgerald, a SU student who attended the march. PHOTO: Iva Fulepu
Students demand anti-apartheid stance
“Today we’re making sure our university takes the right side of history and we want them to condemn what Israel is doing, publicly,” said Ngwenya outside SU’s Administration B building, where the group of students gathered on 23 August.
This march comes after another protest at SU on 2 May, where protestors demanded an academic boycott of Israel.
The most recent march was organised by SA4P, in collaboration with the SU’s Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC) and the South African Student Congress (SASCO), said Siyamthanda Mbulwana, an executive member of the EFFSC.
“We have mobilised people and [we have] appealed to people’s emotions but the university, with the rectorate, we are facing a black block. […] They are refusing to engage with us,” claimed Aadila Mahomed, an SU student who attended the march.
Students have been struggling to get the university rectorate to sit down and speak to them about their stance on the ongoing attacks in Palestine, said Mahomed.
“[SU] is actually the furthest away from progress from all the universities in South Africa,” claimed Mahomed.
Students from Stellenbosch University and the University of the Western Cape recently marched down Victoria Street in Stellenbosch in support of Palestine. PHOTO: Iva Fulepu
Meanwhile, SU’s spokesperson, Martin Viljoen, told SMF News that SU has repeatedly expressed its sympathy and compassion for those affected by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
“SU is not the only university, locally or globally, that has refrained from an institutional stance on this issue to safeguard academic freedom,” said Viljoen in written communication with SMF News.
SU advocates for people’s rights to voice their opinion and will maintain the values of academic freedom and institutional independence, according to Viljoen.
Students at Stellenbosch University (SU) came out in numbers to attend a pro-Palestine march, which was organised by the Student Action for Palestine society in collaboration with the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command and South African Students Congress. Left to right: Zybian Anders, a BA (Humanities) student, Siyasanga Fafa, a BSc (Food Science) student, and Ezile Mcetywa, a BSc (Animal Science) student. PHOTO: Iva Fulepu
Student leaders hope for rectorate interaction
Student leaders from the EFFSC and SASCO played an important role in organising the march, according to Mbulwana.
“We were hoping to educate people more than anything, because we knew that the [university] rectorate [was] not gonna come out,” said Mbulwana.
Though students were not able to speak to the rectorate during the march as they had hoped, they are happy that people came out in numbers to support the cause, said Ngwenya.
They hope that the march will be the start of a process for the university rectorate to take an anti-apartheid stance against Israel, she added.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on 11 September to correct a statement from Martin Viljoen indicating the University’s sympathy and compassion for those affected by the humanitarian crises unfolding in Gaza.