The racial incident which made international news headlines when four University of the Free State students made university cleaners drink urine at the Reitz residence in 2008, still haunts the university and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
This is according to Free State Centre for Human Rights Director, Professor Leon Wessels.
Wessels says he hopes the university will finally be able to bring the matter to a close following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the centre itself, the Free State division of the SAHRC as well as the Institution for Reconciliation and Social Justice.
“What this will mean is that we will, of course, remember the history [of such incidents] but we will really make an effort of moving forward. The memorandum stipulates that we will meet on a regular basis and determine projects that we could do together.
“The projects we will be doing together will be to keep an eye on transformation and instill a culture of human rights at the university and on the broader university community,” he said.
He was speaking ahead of the launch of the Free State Centre for Human Rights at the UFS’s Bloemfontein campus on Tuesday.
The centre dominantly tackles human rights issues on campus as well as postgraduate research initiatives.
It was established on a pilot basis in January 2016 but has been operating on a larger scale in 2017.
Moeketsi Mogotsi/Courant News
