University of Cape Town (UCT) says it suspended a student involved with the vandalism of a historical statue because of a number of unrelated racially charged statements, not because of the incident itself.<\/p>\n
In March 2015, the student ignited national debate about post-apartheid racial transformation after he threw a bucket of human excrement at a statue of Cecil John Rhodes on the UCT campus.<\/p>\n
The statue has since been removed; however, the university denied that the student faced a disciplinary charge and suspension because of his actions towards the statue.<\/p>\n
“Ordinarily, we treat student disciplinary matters as private. We have therefore, until now, not made public any details of the allegations against him. We have not done so, notwithstanding the fact that he has made serious claims against a UCT lecturer \u2013 and if these claims are found to be baseless, they would be damaging and possibly actionable,” the university said.<\/p>\n
It noted that the student had, however, chosen to put these matters in the public domain. He has done so in papers filed on the 2nd of June 2015 with the Equality Court.<\/p>\n
The university said that since the matter was now in the public domain, it was obliged to record that he faces charges that on 1 May 2015, he insisted on being allowed into the Mathematics building after being informed that as it was a public holiday, all lecture theatres and classrooms were locked.<\/p>\n
Once inside the building, and after ascertaining that the said rooms were in fact locked, he is alleged to have raised his voice at the lecturer and made racially charged statements.<\/p>\n
The charges, UCT said, are based on statements and complaints made by the lecturer on Saturday, 2 May 2015 (the day following the incident).<\/p>\n
It added that the student was issued with charges after the witnesses had been interviewed on the following Wednesday, 6 May 2015, and he was issued with a provisional suspension order on Thursday, 7 May 2015.<\/p>\n
On the morning of Monday, 11 May 2015, 10 full days after the incident, he gave a statement of complaint to the University’s investigations officer.<\/p>\n
The hearing of the complaints against the student, scheduled for 4 & 5 June 2015, was postponed as his legal representatives have submitted a medical certificate stating that he is indisposed and will not be able to present himself for the matter until 9 June 2015.<\/p>\n
UCT said that the lecturer’s version was supported by witnesses and was filed the day after the alleged incident.<\/p>\n
“The University considered the alleged actions to be threatening and intimidating and to have been unprovoked. Therefore the University had reason to perceive a potential risk to staff and students. This was the reason for the University’s provisional suspension order against (the student),” it said.<\/p>\n
It further pointed out that the student’s complaint arrived 10 days after the alleged incident and investigators could find no witnesses to support his statement.<\/p>\n
“UCT rejects the false notion, which has been expressed to media, that the disciplinary case against (the student) is related to or is a result of his recent protest action in regards to the Rhodes statue,” UCT said.<\/p>\n
It stressed that not a single student at UCT has been charged with any matter related to any of the protest actions that occurred from 9 March to midday on 18 May 2015.<\/p>\n
Whites in South Africa \u2018are worse than Hitler\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n