The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has weighed in on the alleged Stellenbosch University racist incident and confirmed it was probing the matter.
The commission confirmed that it has received two complaints in its Western Cape Provincial office.
On Monday a video showing student Theuns Du Toit student dubbed the ’Stellie urinator’ was caught on camera peeing on a black students’ study material, went viral prompting South Africans to be up in arms.
The university has since suspended Du Toit, pending an investigation.
SAHRC commissioner responsible for Basic Education Andre Gaum said the commission has decided to investigate the matter saying that it appears that a violation of various student rights have taken place.
“If these allegations are indeed true, this was an atrocious and despicable incident. The facts need to be determined by the commission first and we will call on everyone to also to wait for the commission to conclude its investigation so that we can establish what the facts are. We are attempting to get hold of the affected student and other potential witnesses to come forward,” Guam said.
Victim and first year student Babalo Ndwayana called for the university to expel the perpetrator.
“I was woken up by a noise around 4am and I went to check because my room mate was away for the weekend. I switched on the light, I opened the door and realised that someone was in my room and I quickly jumped to get my phone and asked what Du Toit was doing,,” he said.
Ndwayana said in the Huis Marais residence they did not have any initiation and it is the first time happening to him.
“I want him to be expelled because expulsion will be good for everyone,” said Ndwanyana.
Stellenbosch University SRC chairperson Aviwe Kobokana said there had been a number of complaints at the Huis Marais residence including GBV, racism, general harm and threat to students.
“This is a very traumatic and harmful incident that occurred as we are going towards the exams. We want to ensure that we support this student and make our students as safe as we can. I hope that students are able to put this in the back of their minds and focus on the academics which we keep and eye on the incident and the outcomes,” said Kobokana.
Universities South Africa Director Dr Linda Meyer said such incidents set back the transformation agenda significantly.
“The important thing is that we recognise that as a society we still have the systematic entrenched racial inequality actions that are taken by individuals again bringing disrepute to institutions. As an institution, Stellenbosch is doing the best they possibly can to ensure that these actions are not condoned and they recognise that actions such as this are reprehensible and sets back the transformation agenda significantly,” Meyer said.
She said students like this (urinator) who act in this way, show systematically that there are still individuals that do not accept the transformational requirements within higher education institutions.
“This is reprehensible, immoral and illegal and there is no place in any public university in South Africa for individuals like this to participate in our academic program because it brings complete disrepute across the academy,” Meyer said.
There is a video circulating where Du Toit is hear apologizing.