Reitz
cleaners speak out - 12 October
The five cleaners at the University of the Free State who appear
in the controversial Reitz video, have discussed their
humiliation for the first time, in a British newspaper.
"When they filmed us . . . they were laughing so hard there
were tears in their eyes", one of four women in the video,
Laukaziemma Koko, told the British Sunday Times. She
added that she thinks about the video every day. - News24
website
S
Africa university drops 'racist' video charges - 18 October
South Africa's ruling party on Saturday criticised a university
rector's decision to drop disciplinary charges against four
white students whose video humiliating black workers sparked a
race outcry last year. In a gesture of racial reconciliation,
and the need for healing, the University of the Free State will
withdraw its own charges against the four students,"
University rector Jonathan Jansen said in his inauguration
speech late Friday. The African National Congress, however,
rejected the decision. - AFP on Google
website
16
October 2009
Inaugural
Lecture of the 13th Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the
University of the Free State
IOL website
Excerpts
:
"In the past few months I have visited the grounds of Reitz
often in an attempt to understand how such an atrocity could
have been committed on the grounds of an institution of higher
learning. I believe I now have part of the answer, and that
answer has important implications for how we move towards
healing, forgiveness and social justice on our campus and in our
country . . . The question facing us, therefore, is a disturbing
one, and it is this : What was it within the institution that
made it possible for such an atrocity to be committed in the
first place? It is, without question, a problem of institutional
complicity . . . And so I have made some decisions. 1. In a
gesture of racial reconciliation, and the need for healing, the
University of the Free State will withdraw its own charges
against the four students. The University will therefore not
pursue any further action against the four young men implicated
in the Reitz incident. In this spirit of toenadering, the
University will go further, and invite those four students back
to complete their degrees. 2. In recognition of our
institutional complicity in the Reitz saga, and the need for
social justice, the University of the Free State will not only
pursue forgiveness but will also pay reparations to the staff
concerned for damages to their dignity and their self-esteem.
And, 3. In a determined commitment to the urgent task of
reconstruction, the University of the Free State will re-open
the Reitz residence and transform it into a model of racial
reconciliation and social justice for all students."
The
Reitz four and limited reconciliation - 19 October
Until Friday. When hastily converted vice-chancellor, the
racially-savvy and helpfully coloured Jonathan Jansen, caused a
minor storm of controversy by dropping charges against the
students. It was brave move that was guaranteed to create
an outcry. Never mind Jansen's "blueprint for
transformation" at the university - including compulsory
Sesotho lessons for white kids and Afrikaans lessons for black
kids. Forget the reparations that will be paid to the humiliated
workers, the hefty punishment already meted out to the students
and the near universal acknowledgement that what happened in
that video - urine or no urine - was wrong. The institutions
that matter (read : ANC and the relevant trade unions) want
their pound of flesh. - Mail
& Guardian website
We
are not happy, says Reitz victim - 21 October
One of the five University of Free State (UFS) cleaners involved
in the Reitz racism saga said nobody had consulted them on a
decision to invite the students back. "We are not happy at
all about hearing that those students will be admitted without
us being told," Rebecca Adams told The Times newspaper in a
report on Wednesday. - IOL
website
Jansen's
Reitz decision : an attack on the Rule of Law? - 21 October
I am starting to think that the TRC was a disaster for
South Africa. Although it did provide the opportunity
for ordinary South Africans to tell their stories and to
ventilate the horrors that preceded the so called
"miracle" of 1994 and although this made it very
difficult for ordinary white South Africans to dispute the
evils of apartheid, the TRC seemed to have established a
precedent. Why stick to the law when it is inconvenient to do so
or when a political deal that undermines the law will cause
fewer problems for a particular constituency? - Pierre de Vos on
the Constitutionally
Speaking blog
21
October 2009
Statement
by the Ministry of Higher Education and Training on the
University of the Free State's planned withdrawal of a complaint
against the "Reitz Four"
SA Government Information
website
Suspend
Reitz decision, ministry tells Jansen - 21 October
University of the Free State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen
must suspend his decision to drop a complaint against the
"Reitz Four", the Ministry for Higher Education said
on Wednesday. - Mail &
Guardian website
Cabinet
voices displeasure over Reitz decision - 22 October
The Cabinet has expressed strong displeasure with University of
the Free State vice-chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen's
decision to drop the university's internal charges against the
students who "humiliated the workers at the
institution". "The process that led to the dropping of
the charges was flawed in that it did not follow the established
norm of getting the perpetrators to admit guilt, to apologise to
the victims before any charges could be dropped and to initiate
a reconciliation process," government spokesperson Themba
Maseko told a media briefing on Thursday. - Mail
& Guardian website
Cosatu
calls for Jansen's head over Reitz decision - 22 October
There are calls for Free State University Vice-Chancellor
Jonathan Jansen to be fired following his decision to allow four
students involved in making a humiliating video in which black
staff are made to take part in a mock initiation to return
to campus. The criminal charges have however not been dropped. -
Eye Witness News
website
Jansen
: Reitz support outweighs criticism - 22 October
Support for the University of the Free State's (UFS) decision to
drop charges against four former students involved in a racist
video outweighed the negative reaction, rector Jonathan Jansen
said on Thursday. Speaking to a group of Bloemfontein
businesspeople, Jansen said he wanted to create a campus where
people would take responsibility for their actions, but the door
should always be open for "compassion". - Mail
& Guardian website
Reitz
4 'expressed remorse' - 22 October
Support for the University of the Free State's (UFS) decision to
drop charges against four former students involved in a racial
video outweighed the negative reaction, rector Jonathan Jansen
said on Thursday. Speaking to a group of Bloemfontein
businesspeople, Jansen said he wanted to create a campus where
people would take responsibility for their actions, but the door
should always be open for "compassion". Jansen said he
had received a letter from the four students involved in the
making of the 2008 video in which they expressed remorse over
the incident. - IOL website
Keyphrases :
Danie Grobler
Johnny Roberts
R C Malherbe
Schalk van der Merwe
Reitz
four want charges dropped : report - 22 October
The so-called Reitz four have requested the Free State director
of public prosecutions to drop a charge of crimen injuria
against them, Beeld newspaper reported on Thursday. Their
lawyer, Christo Dippenaar, confirmed to the Afrikaans daily that
he had handed in a written request to advocate Andre du Toit,
SC. - IOL website