Wilgenhof: Agreement reached after litigation
The Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof Residents (AWIR) and Stellenbosch University ('SU') have settled litigation concerning the SU Council's decision to close the Wilgenhof residence in 2025. As part of the agreement, in the first semester, the 2025 Wilgenhof students, together with new first year students who will be allocated to the residence, will be entitled to all move to a new residence together and to retain the current House Committee during which time SU will conduct as much of the necessary renovations as possible. The students will be entitled to return in the second semester even if some of the upgrades still need to be completed. However, the Wilgenhof Alumni has not been able to come to an agreement with SU on its separate application to the High Court to review and set aside the June 2024 report and recommendations by an investigative panel, as well as the decision by the SU Rectorate to accept the panel's conclusion that Wilgenhof was "irremediable" and should be closed. In this interview Jaco Rabie of the Wilgenhof Alumni Association takes BizNews viewers through the whole saga.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
Watch here
Listen here
Extended transcript of the interview
Chris Steyn (00:02.951)
A settlement has been reached with regards to the future of Wilgenhof residence at Stellenbosch University. We speak to Jaco Rabie of the Wilgenhof Alumni Association. Welcome, Jaco.
Jaco Rabie (00:15.256)
Thank you.
Chris Steyn (00:17.425)
Let's just go back to the beginning. What was the controversy that sparked an investigation and resulted in the University Council deciding to close Wilgenhof next year?
Jaco Rabie (00:27.776)
At the beginning of the year, the university discovered the so-called two rooms at Wilgenhof, which entailed an archive of historical memorabilia. And as a result of the contents of the two rooms, they appointed a panel to investigate. The panel made various findings and recommendations, amongst other things, that Wilgenhof should be permanently closed. And as a result of that, the Alumni Association and the Association for Residents decided to approach the High Court for relief.
Chris Steyn (01:07.325)
Okay, an agreement has been reached, but not in the case launched by the Alumni Association. Not yet.
Jaco Rabie (01:15.565)
That's right. The residents settled with the university as it pertains to their application for urgent introductory relief and the setting aside of the university's decision. The Alumni Association are very pleased and very supportive that they have managed to settle the matter. Obviously, this was causing a great amount of uncertainty and heartache for the current residents. And we're very pleased that they've managed to draw a line underneath their litigation in order that they have certainty going forward. However, the Alumni Association has not been part of that settlement because we have other considerations that apply to our review and have decided that it's important for us to press ahead with our case.
Chris Steyn (02:21.821)
Okay, before we speak about your case again, what have the parties: The Association for the Advancement of Wilgenhof Residents and the University Council agreed to now exactly in practical terms?
Jaco Rabie (02:32.778)
Yeah, what they agreed to is that the Wilgenhohf community will be moved out of the residence for three to six months next year. The community will be moved together into another residence and they will be moved back together. They will also be allocated first years in the normal course and the university will recognise the elected House Committee. So in short, Wilgenhof community is being kept intact even though they will be out of the physical building for a period of up to but no longer than six months. That is the first important point.
Secondly, they've agreed to take part in a facilitated process with representatives of both the university, the residents, and others in order to come up with a rejuvenated, reimagined residence as the university has described it.
And then finally there is a process around the name of the residence whereby both the current residents and the university have input into a potential name change of the residentce, but with, call it certain guard rails on both sides in case a consensus cannot be reached.
Chris Steyn (04:08.942)
Do you think this is a big victory?
Jaco Rabie (04:13.144)
I think it is a big step forward and it's certainly a victory for the current residents for the reasons that I've described. The fact that the Wilgenhof community is being kept together, that residents are staying with their friends at the end of the day, as opposed to the community being scattered into different residences across Stellenbosch, particularly taking into account the stigma in a sense that has been attached to Wilgenhof residents. I think it was very important that the community be kept together and that that continuity remains and that the Wilgenhoffers will be able to go back into Wilgenhof as one group is a very positive outcome for the residents but also from the perspective of the Alumni Association.
Chris Steyn (05:05.213)
Okay, let's go back to your litigation, the Alumni Association's litigation. What is that focused on?
Jaco Rabie (05:12.747)
The Alumni Association application centers around ultimately the finding of the report of the investigative panel and the recommendations and decisions that were taken as a result. We've repeatedly stated over the last few months that the report in our view is fundamentally flawed. It contains numerous unsustainable findings. It contains baseless speculation with relation to activities such as Nazism, the KKK, White Supremacy and the like. These findings are unsustainable considering the facts that were before the panel and frankly these findings are defamatory.
Chris Steyn (05:55.943)
So you are, sorry to interrupt you, want those findings rescinded?
Jaco Rabie (06:00.646)
We have asked for the report to be set aside, the recommendations to be set aside, the decisions flowing from the report and the recommendations to be set aside. And that is the basis on which we are going to proceed.
The fact of the matter is that current Wilgenhoffers and alumni have suffered enormous reputational damage as result of the findings in this report. They're simply unsustainable and the Alumni Association were unwilling to leave the matter there despite the fact that the residents have come to a much needed settlement with the university.
Chris Steyn (06:41.216)
Are students still suffering the fallout from this whole controversy?
Jaco Rabie (06:46.723)
I'm sure that they are. The university and the Residents Association, you may have noticed, have put out a statement, a joint statement, and one of the issues that is identified by the university there is that current residents may have suffered victimisation and isolation and trauma as a result of the way in which this matter was handled, firstly in the media, but also frankly by the university.
So the residents have experienced severely negative effects as a result of what has transpired over the last couple of months. And in a sense, that's one of the reasons also that the Alumni Association are forging ahead.
It's not just about, of course, the current residents, but the kind of harm that's been suffered by the current residents, the kind of reputational damage that they have suffered, frankly also clings to the alumni. And that is why we have been compelled to go ahead. I think it's fair to say that the university thus far have been unwilling to offer the same kind of, I wouldn't call it an apology, but a correction of the record on the issues that they seem to correct the record on as far as current residents are concerned. Such a correction is obviously not out there as far as the alumni are concerned.
Chris Steyn (08:24.465)
When do you expect that case to be heard, Jaco?
Jaco Rabie (08:27.967)
That'll be well into next year. The Alumni Association for obvious reasons don't have the same grounds of urgency that the current residents had. So, you know, the matter will be pushed, I would think, fairly deep into the first, the second quarter of next year.
Chris Steyn (08:45.565)
Okay, well, we'll probably speak again after a judgment is handed down. That was Jaco Rabie of the Wilgenhof Alumni Association speaking to BizNews, and I'm Chris Steyn. Thank you, Jaco.
Jaco Rabie (08:58.145)
Thanks Chris.
Read also: