Wits Students react to Luister

The Critical Thinking Reading Group (CTRG) held its weekly meeting at the CALS Seminar room on Monday.  However instead of adhering to the group’s regular program a screening of the documentary, Lusiter and a discussion around it occurred instead.

Photo: YouTube

Photo: YouTube

 

While many students expressed their heartbreak and disgust with what they saw, Anele Nzimande, fourth-year LLB student highlighted how it is hard to be black and to be a black student in South Africa because some of the things you go through don’t have vocabulary to articulate.

Nzimande also emphasized how it is problematic to demonise Stellenbosch and the language policy, pointing out that we are dealing with white people, whether they are British or Afrikaans.

“I think sometimes we get lost in the demonization of Afrikaans because we think 1976 and the Afrikaans policy, but, I think being at Wits is as violent.”

One of the points highlighted at the screening was how there is a lack of cultural adaptation at Universities.

She added that, “Wits’ vision is a global one, what does that even mean for a university that is in Africa. I think that we really need to interrogate [that idea] because as black people we have become very sensitized to Afrikaans dominance and the Wits, UCT kind of dominance always slips through the cracks because it’s much more subtle and gentle. It strokes us as opposed to the very harsh brutality of Afrikaans.”

CRITICAL THINKER: PhD Constitutional Law student Sanele Sibanda highlighted that we are living in a confounding time in South Africa, especially as black people. Photo: Sibongile Machika

CRITICAL THINKER: PhD Constitutional Law student Sanele Sibanda highlighted that we are living in a confounding time in South Africa, especially as black people. Photo: Sibongile Machika

 

PhD Constitutional Law student Sanele Sibanda highlighted that we are living in a confounding time in South Africa. “Different places have different issues but have similarities especially if you are a black person living in these spaces.”

Sibanda critiques how TranformWits as a movement has not gelled. “Why is that in this particular time at UCT a movement  managed to form, and why OpenStellenbosch has managed to grow some feet and continue? What is it about Wits that makes  it different?”

Sibanada told the reading group that is made up largely of black students that “This is not a black critical thinking group. This  is an open group for everybody on this campus. But you look around this room and what do you see?”

One of the highlighted questions was the issue of ‘intellectualizing’ suffering. Sibanda notes there are talks about institutional  culture that is oppressive what does this mean?

“The idea that there is no vocabulary to articulate this space we’re in, the suffering we feel, the victimization- what does this  ultimately mean for struggle because I identify with this notion, but what does it mean for struggle at wits?”

With the burning issues of transformation at hand, Anele Nzimande pointed out how university education does not deal with  black issues.

“I think the problem with many of the Vice Chancellors and students have been produced in the past twenty years, it hasn’t  produced the kind of Vice Chancellors, Alumni’s and students that can deal or speak directly to black issues,”

Nzimande also said that she has wasted four years of her life on education that has done nothing for her. “For me, the fact  that I cannot explain some of the things I know to my father is problematic and highlights how this education is not very useful.”

The Lusiter documentary was created in collaboration with Open Stellenbosch. The documentary shares the lived experiences  of black students at Stellenbosch. It highlights the white violence, discrimination, exclusion and racism black students go through at the university.

Stellenbosch has recently been in hot water for their language policy, a policy described as “a clear intention not to transform and a way for Stellenbosch to maintain the status quo while pretending to change,” by CTRG speaker Nomonde Nyembe.

CTRG at the Wits Law School was formed in 2013 as a desire to establish a platform for intellectual stimulation that extends beyond the lecture and tutorial domains.

The CTRG members hold weekly meetings to discuss and critique thought provoking materials that will stimulate intellectual conversations among Wits students.

Idols SA judge suspended after twitter rant

Idols SA judge and Metro FM presenter, Unathi Msengana, has been suspended from the radion station following a Twitter spat in which she called a Wits student a “psycho bi**h”.

Popular Idols SA judge and  Metro FM breakfast DJ,  Unathi Msengana, was suspended from her show this week following a twitter rant that was directed at a Wits student.

The twar erupted following an on-air interview the DJ conducted with Stellenbosch University student Anelisiwe Mdube about the documentary Luister, and the student’s experiences of being lectured in Afrikaans.

The hashtag #UnathiBeLike trended as social media users criticised the DJ for not allowing Mdube to properly express her views.

Wits University student, Palomino Jama, tweeted: “Wife gets beaten by husband. Unathi: Why didn’t you become a lesbian? You married him knowing men can be abusive”.

Jama’s timeline indicates that the she received a number of private direct messages from Msengana the next morning.

“You’re a fu**ing idiot if you think so … You are fu**ing delusional if you think you can get personal. Fu** your stupid mind. No amount is going to change our realities. You psycho bi**h. Fu** you twice over,” read some of the messages.

Jama then responded on Twitter with: “Nothing warrants me being fu**ed twice over or being called a psycho bi**h by a woman who is old enough to be my mother. Someone I had respect for.”

SABC spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, told Destiny magazine that “the questions she (Msengana) asked on air were valid and there was nothing wrong with her questions. We have no control over DJs and what they do in their private space, but our DJs should know that they are representatives of the brand”.

Following Msengana’s suspension Jama tweeted: “ I am not happy about what has happened to Sis Unathi. I honestly just wish the whole thing never happened.”

Jama told Wits Vuvuzela “I regret the outcome of her being suspended. That was never the intention. Mine is just raising awareness for Luister, clarifying the misconceptions and helping people understand so we can all stand in solidarity evoking change for the Black students of Stellies.”

It is still unclear when, or if Msengana will be returning to her show as the SABC says they first need to discuss the matter with her. Msengana has since released a statement in which she apologised for her reaction on Twitter. “I felt badly violated in my personal life and my personal beliefs … However, as upset as I was at that time, I should not have used offensive language”.

Luister documentary causing a storm

LISTEN: The opening title screen of the documentary explores racism and the language barrier experienced by non-Afrikaans students at Stellenbosch University. Photo: YouTube

LISTEN: The opening title screen of the documentary explores racism and the language barrier experienced by non-Afrikaans students at Stellenbosch University. Photo: YouTube

A documentary exploring racism and the language barrier experienced by non-Afrikaans students at Stellenbosch University is causing widespread debate from within the university itself to politicians in parliament.

Last week, student organisation Open Stellenbosch, together with Contraband Cape Town, released the short documentary Luister. The documentary explores racism and the language barrier experienced by non-Afrikaans students at Stellenbosch University.

Stellenbosch University’s relations manager Wim de Villiers said he is more than willing to meet with Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education. This comes after political parties voiced their concerns over a documentary which features student accounts of alleged racism.

The ANC in Parliament expressed outrage on Tuesday over the racist reality at the University that the documentary portrays. Parliament now wants to have an urgent meeting with the institution’s management.

Luister is a 30 minute YouTube documentary showing the lived experiences of more than 30 students and a lecturer at the university who have felt forms of racial prejudice. It also deals with issues of non-transformation at the institution which is still 65% white.

De Villiers said Luister gives the false impression that management isn’t serious about transformation. He added that the University has always taken the issue seriously but highlighted that there also needs to be mutual respect from the students.

Open Stellenbosch responded to the Universities comments saying that they were, “disappointed that even now, confronted with the raw testimony of students talking about our personal lived experiences of racism and violence, the university continues to insist that our voices are a ‘misrepresentation’”.

Since its release on YouTube a few days ago, it has already had over 125,000 views. According to Open Stellenbosch, the group wants to show the public the extent of racism and exclusivity at Stellenbosch University.

“For the past three months we’ve been acting in action against the university to appeal to these issues. We saw the need to draw broader attention that’s why we decided to put ‘Luister’ together.”

“Luister is a film about Afrikaans as a language and a culture. It is a film about the continuing racism that exists within a divided society. It is a film about a group of students whose stories have been ignored. Luister is the Afrikaans word for Listen.” Contraband Cape Town added this description on YouTube.