Wilgenhof residents & parents set to fight res closure in the court….
Residents of Wilgenhof at Stellenbosch University are in "despair" following the decision to close down the residence following an investigation into two rooms used by an internal disciplinary committee. In this interview with BizNews, Nicola Theron, a spokesperson of the Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof Residents speaks about the ultimatum given to the SU Council to not implement the decision of 16 September to close Wilgenhof in 2025. Should no such undertaking be given, the Association will turn to the Western Cape High Court to obtain an urgent interdict to keep the residence open. She says: "…this can't be a rational decision either if one thinks about the psychological and the trauma impact on these, what are essentially children really; they are young adults, but they are children." Theron describes how the current Wilgenhoffers celebrated Heritage Day "amidst this feeling of gloom and disappointment…it's really despair…a deep disillusionment with the university environment, which I think they expected to be nurturing in terms of education, nurturing in terms of their duty of care. And I think they feel abandoned really by the university."
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Extended transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Chris Steyn (00:02.57)
The Wilgenhof saga could soon end up in the High Court. We get the latest from Nicola Theron of the Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof Residents. Welcome Nicola.
Nicola (00:15.008)
Good afternoon, Chris.
Chris Steyn (00:17.524)
Nicola, the association has sent a letter of demand to the University Council. Please tell us what demands are contained in that letter.
Nicola (00:29.378)
Yes, thank you and good afternoon also to the viewers and listeners. The letter of demand was sent on Friday, the 20th of September, just before the long weekend. And essentially what the letter of demand wants is a decision communicated by the Stellenbosch University to immediately cease the closure, which has been accepted now, the recommendation by the council. So the letter of demand asks that that does not go ahead. And then if that isn't done by SU, then on an urgent basis, there will be an application to the High Court.
Chris Steyn (01:09.59)
Okay, that is not the only demand in the letter. What are the other demands?
Nicola (01:13.742)
Yes, let me open it. It's going to be much easier if I just get it here in front of me. So it will say it will not implement its decision to close Wilgenhof in 2025; It will proceed with the allocation of current qualifying Wilgenhof residents; It will immediately retract its decision not to recognise the current House Committee, confirm the right of current third years and leaders of positions, and it will immediately proceed with the allocation of first years. So maybe just a little bit of background there.
Chris Steyn (01:42.592)
Please.
Nicola (01:42.686)
So the immediate decision is obviously the closure of Wilgenhof and we can talk about that in a while. But what is also linked to this is the fact that there is no allocation of current Wilgenhof, so there's no future Wilgenhof students for the next year.
And very importantly, currently the university is giving the current residents the opportunity to be placed in other residences, but that process has been very chaotic administratively. The students, for instance, request that they be placed with their roommates, which seems not to be the case. There's all sorts of uncertainty around that.
And then this third point, which is to recognise the current House Committee is also very important because some of the House Committee members have been duly elected as House committee members of Wilgenhof for the coming year. But because they are postgraduate students next year, the university has now informed them that they actually do not meet the requirements for placement in a residence. And therefore, they will specifically be prejudiced in the sense that they will have to seek their private accommodation.
As you rightly point out, there are a few things that support this idea of it's not only the closure, but it's also the other actions of Stellebosch University at the moment that is causing this prejudice and harm to the students at the moment.
Chris Steyn (03:14.996)
Now, you've given the university an ultimatum that you will seek an urgent interdict in court. On the basis of what legalities will you do so?
Nicola (03:27.598)
Okay, so I think the first thing to say is obviously I'm not a legal expert. So maybe just to give you some background, the Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof residents, this is actually a voluntary association that was created. The members are 343 members which consist of the current residents together with their parents. So I'm a parent of a current resident of Wilgenhof.
And this has actually come about through interaction on WhatsApp group, where parents had the opportunity to share their impressions and their thoughts after the council, the decision that was made on 24th of June. And it immediately became apparent on that WhatsApp group that parents felt that their children were absolutely discriminated against. And that then led to a joint submission from the parents. And this then ultimately resulted in the creation of this association.
And therefore, I can talk to the legal grounds, but I just want to qualify them, I'm not a legal expert. But essentially, it's about the irreparable harm that will follow. So if one just thinks about the concepts that are in the letter of proportionality and rationality, I think those are the important ones to consider.
Council has made a decision that will have very far reaching consequences in terms of harm on the current students.
And the remedy is completely disproportional to the findings of the original report. We can also talk about that.
But if one just practically think about it, you're going to close the residence for a whole year. These students will have to now be integrated at a best case scenario in a completely different res; the rest will have to find accommodation in private. And that is simply not proportional to the harm that was identified and which we think in any case was not properly researched in that first report.
And then this can't be a rational decision either if one thinks about the psychological and the trauma impact on these, you know, what are essentially children really, they are young adults, but they are children.
Nicola (05:44.974)
And if one just looks at the way it impacts on their academic career, the uncertainty, then that also doesn't seem rational.
And finally, the harm to the university. What exactly is the harm to the university in keeping it open for another year, implementing transformation process?
That has to be balanced against the harm to the student, which is really real in terms of academic, psychological, the communities that they form.
So that is the legal basis for this application. The court will have to decide on those issues in terms of the administrative law of this country.
Chris Steyn (06:23.776)
So you've given the council a deadline. When does that deadline expire?
Nicola (06:28.524)
Yes, so the letter, as I said, was sent on Friday the 20th of September and three business days were given. So given the Heritage Day, that would be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. So the university will have to respond as a matter of urgency.
And of course, if that doesn't happen, then, as the letter says, then the association will approach the Cape High Court on an urgent basis. And I think the urgency is clear, the urgency must be clear to everybody. We are now in September already.
You know, these students, I want to say something about the timing of these decisions as well, but these students have to find accommodation. It's already very late in the day. They need certainty as to their future. I mean, a student is somebody that is focused on their immediate academic journey that they have to undertake. This uncertainty is really difficult for them. As parents, we have seen the impact of this on our children.
As I said, both council decisions, the one in June to ask for further submissions and the one now on 16th of September, came in the middle of serious, the first one, exams and the second one.
So, I mean, I can speak, for instance, my child is a third year Wilgenhof resident. And the decision that was communicated to the Wilgenhof residents on the 16th of September, the current Vice Rector came to the res. He gave this decision, which really sounds like a sentence, to the current inhabitants of Wilgenhof. And my son literally left that meeting, and 20 minutes later entered an exam or a test location where he had to write and he didn't write very well as you might imagine.
So I just think you know there's a real consequence here for real students that the university really has to take into consideration and hopefully that will also be a real consideration when the court looks at this.
Chris Steyn (08:36.47)
Now for some of our viewers who may not know the whole Wilgenhof saga, may I take you back to the beginning? Tell us what sparked this scandal and the investigation that was instituted.
Nicola (08:53.23)
Yes. Look, think the important thing is, I'll take you through the milestones now, but I think it's common cause that Wilgenhof is actually the oldest residence in South Africa. It was begun in 1903. So there is obviously a very specific history to Wilgenhof and it is intertwined with the history of the university. As we know in South Africa, not all parts of our history is acceptable. That's accepted, I think, also by the current Wilgenhoffers.
So, during February 24, two so-called rooms were discovered with certain memorabilia and things that obviously looked shocking, was portrayed in the media as, you know, these are practices that are ongoing, you know, words like racism, White Supremacy, torture, these words were bandied about in the press and the impression was certainly created that these are ongoing.
So, I just want to interject there by saying that in the letter that was written on behalf of this association, it is clearly stated that current residents, they say that these practices have already stopped. You know, that is also something where we feel there hasn't been enough investigation.
But nevertheless, there was then a panel appointed by the university, which is fair, given, you know, the rooms that were discovered or the expose in the media, It was fair for the university to appoint a panel. And that report was then released somewhere in June. And the recommendation there as then accepted by the rector was for the closure of Wilgenhof.
Now, I don't know if you've seen the initial report, but certainly just from a Wilgenhof perspective, we feel that there's been very, very superficial interaction with Wilgenhoffers themselves. So nobody from the university came to Wilgenhof, they didn't interact with the Wilgenhoffers. Very, very superficial interaction.
The views of the current Wilgenhoffers are transformed already, where they all belong, where the values of critical thinking, individuality, respect are all their lived experience. That was not taken into account in terms of that report.
Nicola (11:19.074)
But importantly, the council then had a meeting to accept the recommendation from the rector on the 24th of June. And it seems the council was not convinced at that stage that closure is the correct remedy. And that's why then on the 24th of June, they asked for further submissions, which one could give until the 31st of July. Now, we as parents, I, my personal capacity made submissions and…
Nicola (11:45.006)
I understand that these submissions – also from the current Wilgenhoffers, even from a group of Coloured ex-Wilgenhoffers – that those contained real and practical propositions and proposals for transformation.
And this is what we also say in the letter, is that the current residents, and one must be in mind, these sons, children, boys have been born in a democratic South Africa. They've been born 2001, 2002, 2003.
Transformation. And this is what we also say in the letter is that the current res is set on what we think are these sons, children, people who are in a democratic South Africa, living more 2001, 2002.
Nicola (12:14.019)
They are not, they have not been raised in Apartheid South Africa. They are used to diverse communities. They want to transform the res as far as it is within their powers to do that.
Obviously they can't be held responsible for things that happened in the past.
But nevertheless, council then apparently considered these submissions and then, it was really shocking to us on the 16th of September to think that council at the time in June, didn't make the decision to close the res, but now on the 16th of September, much later, they then come with this very, very extreme recommendation to close Wilgenhof, which to us just doesn't make sense. Not as parents, not as current Wilgenhoffers. As I said, they are committed to a transformation journey. That can happen with Wilgenhof open.
Nicola (13:14.058)
It is not convincving; the reasons given by the university doesn't seem to really support this extreme remedy of closure. We don't understand why that is rational.
Chris Steyn (13:24.596)
Meanwhile, what other sentiments being shared by former and current Wilgenhoffers?
Nicola (13:30.658)
Yes, I think there's an absolute sense of shock. I think it's human to always hope that the worst may not happen. I think there was really strength in the submissions that were made on behalf of current Wilgenhoffers, which were they tried to really illustrate to the council through their submissions, you know, this whole idea of a transformed res that already is the case in their views. It's not my opinion, it's the opinion of the current Wilgenhoffers.
The parents emphasise, for instance, the psychological effect it would have on their children. And really, the current mood amongst the Wilgenhoffers is really one of despair.
And the reason why is that the council decision came out on the 16th of September. They understand and they are members of this Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof residents. They understand there's a court application. But within a week of that council decision, they have all received emails already, either placing them in a res that, you know, I mean, they can't even fathom how they must walk into, let's say, Dagbreek oor Eendrag as an ex-Wilgenhoffer that's now been made out as a Nazi or White Supremacist.
That's not going to, it's going to be very difficult for the students. And then some of them have simply received an email saying they were too late in their application, which predates the 16th of September announcement and they will have to go on to a waiting list.
So it's really despair. is, I think, a deep disillusionment with the university environment, which I think they expected to be nurturing in terms of education, nurturing in terms of their duty of care. And I think they feel abandoned really by the university. I think that's the overall impression. And they are courageous guys. They went, I spoke to my son yesterday, they proceeded to have a heritage day celebration with the rest of the community, with their cluster. They want to participate in university celebrations and they went ahead amidst this feeling of gloom and disappointment.
Chris Steyn (15:56.608)
Thank you. That was Nicola Theron of the Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof Residents speaking to BizNews about the fight to stop the closure of Wilgenhof residence at Stellenbosch University. Thank you, Nicola, and I'm Chris Steyn.
Nicola (16:11.726)
Thank you Chris for the opportunity.
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