College in bid to block violent protests
Violent protests have forced Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute to seek an interdict to block future illegal protests. [Video]
|||Cape Town - Violent protests at the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute in Stellenbosch has forced the college to seek an interdict to “block any future illegal protests”.
The institute also brought in extra security after two days of protest action – against language policies – threatened to further disrupt classes.
Public order police were called in in an attempt to calm tensions.
A group of Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command (EFFSC) members and students protested since Monday against what they called “racist” language policies that “enforced” Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
The institute is registered with the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and currently has a 50/50 language policy. This means that half of the classes are taught in English and the other half in Afrikaans.
The EFFSC said language policies at universities isolated the majority of black students not familiar with Afrikaans, and called for “radical transformation”.
They added that students had approached management and other stakeholders on the issues but had not received any assistance to remedy the situation.
“The racism in predominantly white institutions like the University of Cape Town, Wits University, the University of Pretoria, Rhodes University and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is suffocating; black students at these universities have all declared enough is enough. They have decided to face white supremacy and those racist institutions head on through radical campaigns,” they added.
Classes were officially suspended when language policy protesters assaulted non-protesting students with sjamboks as they barged into a campus lecture hall to disrupt classes.
The violent scenes were captured on cellphone video footage uploaded by AfriForum Youth on Tuesday.
The rights group also said it would hire its own security guards and would also consider taking action against police for “failing to enforce order”.
Elsenburg’s council management and the Student Representative Council met on Tuesday to discuss a course of action.
The institute’s spokeswoman, Petro van Rhyn, said the issues raised by students during a meeting were taken seriously and were being dealt with.
“The behaviour of some of the students and other outside parties has not created a conducive environment for finding solutions. We call for cool heads and ask that we all work together to resolve this issue,” she said.
A task team has been established to engage with stakeholders to facilitate the development of a new language policy.
“Independent mediators have been appointed to facilitate the transformation process, diversity management training and conflict resolution involving students, lecturers and administrative personnel,” Van Rhyn said.
As a result of that meeting, it was decided that lectures would be doubled up and delivered in English and Afrikaans.
However, this solution was slammed by Western Cape Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde, who also condemned the violence.
Winde said he could not allow students to be split “along racial lines” and be educated separately.
“I do not want to have black classes and white classes, it is not going to happen here,” he said. Winde also warned that “politics” should not feature, as such “interference” only “fuels the fire”.
The DA also condemned Tuesday’s violence at Elsenburg, saying: “The DA believes in an open academic environment in which students have the opportunity to exceed academically.”
The Department of Agriculture sent a letter addressed to parents and students at the college raising the issue of language, saying that despite “progress made towards developing an inclusive approach to learning”, there remained a group of students that appeared opposed to finding solutions.
gadeeja.abbas@inl.co.za
Cape Argus