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6/X-Press/November 18, 1993

South African students face daily threats

JOHANNESBURG (CUP) --

rmy dogs on the Wits University cam-

pus don’t do algebra. They are trained to

bite. Trained to bite students who dare to challenge the racist administration.

Campus life in South Africa is nothing like in Canada. Of course, there are lectures and labs, beer-drinking contests and a chess club. But tear gas and army tanks are as much part of

will continue to be, a legitimate structure,”’ said June Sinclair, the only woman on council. ‘“We are representative of students’ interests.’’ And Wits is considered to be a liberal, open university in the South African context. The University of Pretoria, in the capital, is a breeding ground for young racist minds. De- spite the scrapping of Apartheid laws that re- stricted access to the school to white people only, Apartheid is still the

studentlifeasexams. Even the canine soldiers have

way of life. More than

marched many times over ” “ 10,000 students live on

the football field, marking When th ey come in campus yet only one resi-

their territory. lookin 1g fo r student dence houses black stu- Attending a Wits ea ; dents.

student councilmeetingis QCLIVIStS, Sometimes WE — ‘‘There’snoruletelling

a challenge in itself. On us where weare supposed

Aug. 19, 116 students were arrested after the police and trained dogs sur- rounded their outdoor

run like hell. Other times, we shoot back"

to stay,’’ said one black student. ‘‘It’s just a ques- tion of survival tactics.”

Black students have been threatened with vio-

gathering and shoved as many as they could into a paddywagon.

The students were released by 3:00 the next morning but more were arrested several days later and 130 students are in court today facing charges of public violence and contempt of court.

The students at the meeting were plan- ning a series of actions, including a class boy- cott to force the university administration to listen to their demands.

The first demand was the lifting of a Supreme Court injunction against any meeting of the South African Students Congress (Sasco) on campus. The second called for the disband- ing of the undemocratic university council. None of the demands have been met.

Sasco is the principal student union in South Africa. Its goal is a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa.

Students under the Sasco banner say the administration is a dinosaur from the Apartheid education system and they want to change it. Apartheid education created separate funding schemes for blacks-only and whites-only schools.

Only about 30 per cent of Wits students are black. Most are in the arts faculties. Only nine per cent of engineering and science stu- dents are black. Student activists at Wits think of their university council, similar to the senate ofa Canadian university, as white guys with ties protecting their assets.

Members of the council deny there’s any problem.

“*The council met and believes it is, and

lence and chased out of whites-only residences.

The University of the North, or **Turfloop’’ as it is called by the students, is built like a fort. Most buildings on the black campus have an outer wall with holes just the right size for the tip of an AK-47.

The hill on the northern side serves as 4 watch tower. Barbed wire and high fences are everywhere. When things get bad, there’s even tripwire.

‘It has to be built like a fort,’’ said Oscar, a student activist at Turfioop and mem- ber of the South Africa Students Congress. ‘*Our administration and our SRC (student rep- resentative council) are democratic, and thal scares the shit out of the government.’’

The South African Defence Force has an army base less than a kilometre away, just north of the main gates.

‘*When they come in looking for stu- dent activists, sometimes werun like hell. Othe! times, we shoot back,’’ Oscar said.

South Africa is transforming itsel!, slowly but surely. Apartheid laws were scrapped in Feb. 1990 after intense pressure from liber tion groups like the African National Congress (ANC), and an international business and cul- ture boycott. But laws are only one part of the racist regime.

The black majority in the country wil vote for the first time in April’s national ele tions. They will vote to change the governmet!

Maybe the education system will fo: low. People’s minds will be the hardest " change.