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Universities South Africa has been observing the racialisation of the discourse at North-West University (NWU), and the associated acrimony, with increasing concern.

Universities are public institutions and must function in accordance with our Constitution. While our Constitution does recognise and encourage multilingualism, and the protection and development of indigenous languages, including Afrikaans, it is also categorical that this must not be applied in a way that advances an ethnic or racial agenda. The protection and development of an indigenous language cannot be used as a proxy for the exclusion or marginalisation of others, and the ethnic balkanisation of university campuses. Our concern is that, in the case of NWU, this is precisely what some stakeholders are attempting.

We want to underscore that this goes against the very spirit of our Constitution and the transformation agenda which is essentially about building a unified, non-racial nation. We also want to stress that NWU is not the only place where this kind of crude essentialism is emerging. We have seen similar sentiments expressed in other institutional settings, even if these have manifested themselves in narrow tribal, rather than racial, agendas.

Universities South Africa is committed to the values of our Constitution, and we will feel compelled to criticise those who violate these values by expressing racism or tribalism, even when it is one of our own.
We urge all parties to work with NWU stakeholders to bring their words and actions in line with the values of our Constitution. We are willing to assist in any way that we can, and look forward to continuing to work together towards a unified, non-racial university system.

 

Issued by Universities of South Africa (formerly Higher Education South Africa)