By G Ollie Olwagen
Cape Town - Who among us has not done something brutishly silly in our lives – more often than not when we were young and cheerfully irresponsible – something that we have very much regretted afterwards?
Chances that such things may happen in a varsity environment are as great as anywhere where youngsters are living it up trying to be part of their crowd.
Dealing with someone hopelessly stoned or plastered (or whatever the slang expression for totally under the influence may be at that time) may also not be such a socially pleasant experience for many people in their company.
But such things happen so frequently that they are seldom the “great news of the decade”.
Unless, it seems, when students are perceived to have wee-weed across the “racial divide”.
Then, as it looks, there are commotions blowing up matters out of all proportion. In fact the gross reaction could even sound absolutely silly to outsiders.
If it were not so sad.
And by sad I mean extremely sad to independent onlookers like me and others to witness the perpetual crucifixion of the student of Stellenbosch who has already displayed his deepest regret for the wrong he had committed – done in moments of blind intoxication and numbed accountability. In fact, had he urinated upon a fellow white’s computer, the matter would have been resolved in the soberness of the next daylight.
When I was a student, many moons ago, I was wee-weeded upon by another who had the near unbelievable reputation of urinating right over a one-decker bus.
He did not know that I was on the other side of the bus at that time. One accepted this and the world did not explode over such a yucky incident of youthful happy-go-craziness.
Don’t get me wrong. I hate racial hatred with a blind hatred. In my younger days, I also witnessed the true bloody shamelessness of apartheid police brutality, when I heard a white policeman beating up a convict in a cell for nothing more than being black.
Blood must have been spilt, I am fairly sure. But this one incident was a far, far cry from one involving a student passing water on a computer in a deep state of fuzzy kan-nie-worry-lunacy.
My advice to all involved is therefore: please, do not let this “thing of hate” continue. Come together and resolve the matter in the true spirit of ubuntu.
If that is not done, the racial divide will be the winner and the animosity will continue forever. And future generations at Stellenbosch will not thank you all for your insight.
Cape Times
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