Last updated:04/03/2008
Racist video sparks outcry

Several white students in South Africa are facing criminal charges after allegedly forcing black campus employees to eat food that had been urinated on.

A video has surfaced which appears to show five elderly University of Free State employees being made to drink beer and perform athletic tasks. It also shows them being forced to eat food which appears to have been urinated on.
The university has strongly condemned the actions of the students shown in the video.

The incident saw students and staff unite in protest on the university’s campus and student groups are planning nationwide anti-racism demonstrations in response.

The video was reportedly recorded in protest at moves to integrate black and white students in the same residences at the University of the Free State. The university is well known for mainly having white students since the days of apartheid.
In recent years the institution has encountered difficulties trying to integrate people from other racial groups, and the latest incident is seen by many as a clear indication of racial intolerance.

The final part of the video shows a white male urinating on food, and then shouting, “Take! Take!” in Afrikaans - apparently forcing the campus employees to eat the dirty food, and causing them to vomit.

Reports state that the alleged perpetrators are current or former students at the University of the Free State.
University of the Free State rector, Frederick Fourie, said he was “extremely upset about the incident”.

“We are having a management meeting. And there’s a strong condemnation of this from everybody concerned,” he said.
The university says it has begun procedures to suspend the students allegedly implicated in the video, and says the alleged victims have received psychological support.

Following the incident hundreds of black students and workers from the institution handed over a list of demands to management.

Siviwe Vamva, from the South African Students Congress, said the group was planning to call a national strike on Thursday March 6 to raise the profile of its anti-racism campaign. He said racism was also still a problem in other universities.

“We are saying that all these issues must be brought forward so that all the people of South Africa can see that racism is still a dominant feature in South African society,” he said.

The South African Institute of Race Relations has said this incident and several others over the past month could threaten general improvements in race relations since the end of apartheid.

The institute also condemned the shooting of four black people by a white youth, and the decision by the Forum for Black Journalists to evict a white journalist from a meeting.