Potchefstroom College of Agriculture wants to arrest AfriForum Youth chairperson
The Potchefstroom College of Agriculture has now gone to extremes to prevent information about the decline of the College from being revealed. In the latest incident they laid a charge of trespassing against AfriForum Youth’s National Chairperson, Henk Maree, with the South African Police Service. This comes after Maree visited the college two weeks ago to collect evidence on the decline of the College after months of correspondence between the two parties, and after the College had demanded that AfriForum Youth must prove where the problems at the college are, since the College denied allegations by students.
“During our visit we broke no rules. The management’s attitude leaves much to be desired. After we started taking pictures of the terrain and buildings that still had not been repaired three years after AfriForum Youth’s first inspection, a member of the College management parked us in and prevented us from continuing. A while later we were asked to leave the premises. We obliged with this request, because we already obtained everything that was needed,” says Henk Maree, National Chairperson of AfriForum Youth.
According to Maree, he signed in at the security gate like a normal visitor and visited the terrain along with members of AfriForum Youth who study at the College. AfriForum Youth has an official branch at the Potchefstroom College of Agriculture.
“I find it ridiculous that the College does not even bother to investigate the complaints themselves, but insists that we should do it, and on top of it then confronts us and lay charges against us when we collect the evidence,” said Maree.
No changes or improvements have been made since AfriForum Youth began to handle the complaints by students. During the argument, the member of the College management maintained that it was disrespectful of AfriForum Youth to be on the College terrain without the knowledge of the College management.
“It is clear from the behaviour of the College that there is a snake in the grass. There is no transparency and students deserve to get answers to their complaints. If everything at the College were in order, they would not have had any problems with our visit,” Maree concluded.
