Condemn “Kill the Boer”, demands AfriForum Youth after chant echoes on Potchefstroom campus
AfriForum Youth today made an urgent appeal to the Vice-Chancellor of the North-West-University (NWU), Prof. Bismark Tyobeka, to condemn and ban the singing of the “Kill the Boer” chant on NWU campuses. This official request follows after the chant was sung outside residences on the NWU’s Potchefstroom campus last night (5 June). Video footage of this incident was shared with AfriForum Youth.
Meanwhile, AfriForum has also learnt reliably that the NWU has already identified three students in connection with the incident and that an investigation is expected to follow. AfriForum Youth welcomes this step.
The youth organisation further insists that the university must make it clear that disciplinary action will be taken against any students who find themselves guilty of singing this chant in the future. According to AfriForum Youth, the chant has a history of violence and racial polarisation and has no place in an environment that claims to be inclusive, safe and academically free.
According to Yvonne Gerber, Youth Development Officer for AfriForum Youth, the court’s legalisation of the “Kill the Boer” chant and its ruling that it is not hate speech in no way means that the university may shy away from taking responsible and moral action against its singing. “Just as carrying a firearm is legal in South Africa but not allowed on campus, the university can also set clear boundaries in this regard and say that this song will not be allowed or tolerated on campus,” explains Gerber.
AfriForum has previously urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to condemn the singing of the “Kill the Boer” chant and stressed that his refusal to do so, according to the government’s own standards, amounts to a violation of the United Nations (UN) Genocide Convention. “What applies to the President also applies to the NWU Vice-Chancellor,” concludes Gerber.
