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The whole issue surrounding the so-called purple ‘black face’ incident at the Stellenbosch University (SU) is so absurd that the logical conclusion of this kind of thinking by Open Stellenbosch and the investigation by the SU authorities would be that DSTV will be forced to remove the X-Files program from their Fox Channel due to racism, Adv. Anton Alberts, the parliamentary spokesperson on Higher Education says.

“Any discussion regarding ‘aliens’ between the FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, in the X-Files television series, will be viewed as racism. It would be even worse if extra-terrestrial beings would be shown. If any were to be purple, it would be unforgivable,” Adv. Alberts says.

He said it is clear that racist considerations did not play a role in the costume and appearance of the students and there is therefore not a prima facie case against these two students.

“Yet, the SU management continues to investigate the case and subject the students to the psychological consequences of prosecution. The thought police at SU, as directed by Open Stellenbosch are busy creating an absurd but dangerous culture of suppression of the constitutional right to freedom of expression.

“A university should actually establish the platform for free and creative thinking. It appears as if the SU is becoming the personification of the state in George Orwell’s ‘1984’.

“The irony of Open Stellenbosch’ influence on the SU management cannot go unnoticed either. SU which is supposed to be a university in particular for the Afrikaans speaking minority at a national level, but which has abandoned that mandate, for the sake of political expediency is allowing a minority on the SU campus to direct the SU management’s policy to the advantage of the majority on a national level. With this, the SU is abandoning its constitutional and judicial obligation toward minorities in South Africa.

“The SU should rather restrict itself to excellent higher education in Afrikaans. Today, many former students who received their training in Afrikaans are excelling without any any disadvantage resulting from their Afrikaans training and the Afrikaans nature of the world in which they were raised. In fact, it is because they were educated in their mother tongue that they excel in English, Spanish, French and even Mandarin.

“If the SU management has such a principled belief in transformation that it has to reflect the national demographics, they should show moral leadership and resign and appoint ethnically black people to their positions. Otherwise they should rather keep quiet and manage SU as an institution which respects mother tongue education in Afrikaans,” Adv. Alberts said.

Issued by FF Plus