Dear Mr Mandlana
Tension between AfriForum Youth and SASCO
I write to you in the light of the tension between AfriForum Youth and
SASCO that surfaced at various tertiary institutions in South Africa, as
well as a particular complaint that we received this weekend. The most
important of these institutions are the University of Pretoria, the North
West University, the Grootfontein Agricultural College and the Tshwane
University of Technology.
As a civil rights organisation, we have received several complaints about
statements by and the conduct of leaders of SASCO. It has also come to
my attention that certain misperceptions about AfriForum Youth are being
propagated by representatives of SASCO. The purpose of this letter is to
bring our concerns to your immediate attention and to clarify certain
issues.
In the first place, I should once again mention that AfriForum Youth is a
civil rights student movement with no party-political affiliation
whatsoever. Our purpose is to protect the rights of minority groups on
the campuses of South Africa, with specific emphasis on the Afrikaans
student community.
Our policy is to cooperate with any organisation that supports our policies,
of which the most important are the promotion of mother-language
education and the exemption of the youth from affirmative action.
At various campuses, several incidents occurred that sparked tension
between the local branches of AfriForum Youth and SASCO. I would like
to take the opportunity to discuss these events with you in brief:
· You will be aware that AfriForum Youth participated and won the recent student parliament elections at the University of Pretoria.
After the announcement of the election results, SASCO made a
deliberate attempt to mobilise other student organisations against
AfriForum Youth to exclude AfriForum Youth from the possibility of
the presidency and representation in the SRC. In reaction to this,
AfriForum Youth was forced to form a broad coalition with other
organisations in order to protect our own candidates. Because of
this, SASCO was excluded from the SRC completely.
· During the student parliament election at the University of Pretoria,
a SASCO-representative informed us that they had attempted to get
approval for an election poster with the words: “Kill the Boer, kill
the farmer”.
· At the Grootfontein Agricultural College in the Eastern Cape, SASCO
demanded the abolishment of Afrikaans as medium of instruction.
SASCO abused its political influence in the ruling party and
Government to convince the Department of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries that the abolishment of Afrikaans at agricultural
colleges is a good idea. Once this decision had been announced by
the Department, AfriForum Youth’s local branch was forced to
initiate a stay-at-home student strike, which fortunately resulted in
the withdrawal of the mentioned decision.
· At the Potchefstroom campus of the North West University, the
SASCO branch chairperson chanted the words: “Dubulu i’Bhunu”
(“Shoot the whites”) during a student debate. He also incited
students against Afrikaans.
· Earlier this year, AfriForum Youth hosted a national youth
conference on the question of peaceful coexistence in South Africa.
Despite the fact that an invitation was directed to the Secretary
General of SASCO, Mr Lazola Ndamase, in person, the conference
was boycotted by SASCO.
· At the Tshwane University of Technology, AfriForum Youth recently
put up posters to advertise a meeting with the purpose of
establishing a local branch. The next day, we found that many of
these posters had been torn down. A member of AfriForum Youth
informed us that the posters had been ripped off by members of
SASCO.
· On the 4th of August 2010, during a press conference hosted by
SASCO, AfriForum Youth was accused of being “a racist
organization”.
Provincial Secretary, Chabana Chabana, said that
AfriForum is attempting to convince “liberal white South Africans” to
believe that “black people are animals who should be locked up in
cages and sent to prison”. On the 5th of August 2010, I personally
responded to this by writing to you, requesting a meeting to discuss
these allegations, but you were not prepared to discuss your
statements with us.
· During the recent student parliament election at the University of
Pretoria, candidates of AfriForum Youth found members of SASCO
openly ripping off and damaging AfriForum Youth’s election posters.
I myself was on the scene with our candidates and when we
confronted the SASCO members, they chanted racist slogans and
threatened to assault me personally, as well as one of the lecturers
who tried to stop them.
· The latest issue concerns a SASCO election poster that has been
brought to my attention. The wording of the poster is as follows:
A vote for SASCO is a vote for ANC and a vote for anc [sic] is a vote for Julius MALEMA
“One Boer one bullet”
Viva Julius malema [sic] viva!!!
Students please vote for SASCO 100%
BLACKS ONLY ORGANISATION
(STRICTLY SOUTH AFRICANS)
Amandla!!
The contents of this poster amounts to racism in its worst form.
Not only does it incite racial violence and murder, it is also
xenophobic and may lead one to conclude that, according to
SASCO, whites are not South Africans.
AfriForum Youth is an organisation that believes in constructive
discussions and debate. However, certain conduct and statements of
SASCO leaders, and particularly the abovementioned poster, is totally
unacceptable and cannot be justified in any way. With this letter, I kindly
request feedback on whether this poster amounts to a true reflection of
SASCO’s policy. If not, I hope that you will agree with me that proper
disciplinary action should be taken.
I await your response eagerly.
Kind regards
Ernst Roets
National Chairperson
AfriForum Youth
