Condemn Gaza genocide, academics, staff urge Stellenbosch University

More than 200 Stellenbosch University staff have said they believe the institution has 'a special moral responsibility' to break its silence on the issue, given its history with apartheid.
Academics and staff at Stellenbosch University have called on the institution to break its silence and call for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and sever any ties with implicated Israeli universities.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, 18 June, more than 200 signatories called for the university's leadership 'to officially and unequivocally add the university's voice to this worldwide call'.
'The gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including the crime of genocide, being committed by Israel in its devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, raise profound questions about the responsibility of universities to condemn such acts and avoid collaborating with implicated Israeli institutions.
'Unlike several other South African universities, Stellenbosch University as an institution has been largely silent on this issue. A Senate motion calling for an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of attacks on civilians in Gaza and Israel, the passage of humanitarian aid and the return of all captives was defeated on 30 April 2024. As concerned members of the university community, we again call upon our university to take a public stand on the violations of international law being committed against the Palestinian people,' read the statement.
According to the statement, the Stellenbosch University academics and administrative staff are calling for:
An immediate end to the genocide in Gaza;
Immediate relief aid, including food, medicine and fuel into Gaza;
An end to starvation as a strategy of war;
The establishment of humanitarian corridors so that the injured and sick may be safely evacuated and attended to; and
A lasting cessation of violence against the Palestinian people.
Several South African universities, including the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and Nelson Mandela University, have all made official statements calling for a ceasefire and immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In April 2024, a special sitting of the Stellenbosch University Senate rejected a motion urging the institution to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a GroundUp report. The motion followed a statement signed by 103 Senate members calling for an end to Israel's ' brutal and barbaric ' destruction of Gaza.
It has been more than 18 months since Hamas' incursion into southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and took about 251 hostage. Since then, Israel has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while displacing almost the entire population of 2.2 million, according to a Reuters report.
On Thursday, 19 June, at least 51 people were reported killed by Israeli authorities, including 12 people who tried to reach the new aid distribution site operated by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the central Gaza Strip – the latest in reports of near-daily incidents of Palestinians killed while seeking food.
The United Nations (UN) has rejected the contentious GHF operation in Gaza. In a statement on Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory called on the Israeli military to 'immediately cease its use of lethal force around food distribution points in Gaza, following repeated incidents of shooting and killing of Palestinians seeking to access food there'.
'We are horrified at the repeated incidents, continuously reported in recent days across Gaza, and we call for an immediate end to these senseless killings,' said OHCHR.
The aid currently reaching Palestinians in Gaza is far from sufficient, and international humanitarian organisations have warned that the vast majority of Palestinians who live in the enclave are at risk of starvation unless the distribution of aid is urgently increased.
'A special moral responsibility'
The signatories to the statement said they believed that Stellenbosch University had 'a special moral responsibility' to break its silence on the issue, given its history of facilitating, colluding and collaborating with apartheid, and thus violating human rights'.
'As academics and concerned staff on the African continent, and part of a global society, we recognise that our responsibilities must extend into the cultivation of a public good, not for some, but for all people.
'We also recognise our own positioning at Stellenbosch University, a context that continues to enjoy immense privilege, but which carries historical burdens. Our institution's renewed commitment to transformation demands a heightened sensitivity to human suffering and indifference, not only in the context of South Africa, but also beyond,' the statement read.
Speaking to Daily Maverick, Professor Ashraf Kagee from Stellenbosch University's Department of Psychology said he believed that individual academics and institutions 'must be vocal and outspoken in condemning human rights violations of this nature'.
'I think we need to be very clear that we do not ever want to see a world where this is possible; where this is acceptable. And we need to marshal all organs of society, the institutions, the corporations, the governments of the world to address this matter, to isolate Israel, to put as much pressure on the Israeli government and its supporters in the West to make this genocide stop immediately,' he said.
'It's remarkable that almost two years since the genocide began, nothing has been done to stop it. In fact, Western countries are aiding and abetting Israel with support of their militaries.'
Kagee said while there had been 'historical complicity with apartheid' at Stellenbosch University, the institution was making a concerted effort to reposition itself, and publicly calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza 'fits in' with its transformation efforts and a crackdown on racism, sexism and other issues of injustice at the institution.
'Suspend collaboration with implicated Israeli universities'
Among the demands in the statement is the call for Stellenbosch University to 'commit itself to suspending all collaboration with Israeli universities where there is a risk of direct or indirect involvement in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories'.
Professor Sandy Liebenberg, the HF Oppenheimer chair in Human Rights Law at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Law, said several universities worldwide had done audits of their relationships with Israeli universities and severed ties with those complicit in human rights violations.
'We would like to see the management of the university putting out a statement at least distancing itself from and condemning the gross violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law that's unfolding. But, perhaps more fundamentally, we would like to see some kind of audit committee set up to look at the contacts which might exist between Stellenbosch and implicated institutions – Israeli universities that might be complicit in human rights violations,' she said.
In response to questions from Daily Maverick, Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said: 'Stellenbosch University (SU) recognises the severity and far-reaching impact of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. It is important to emphasise that our institution stands firmly for the principles of peace, respect for human rights, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and the principles of international humanitarian law.
'SU is a multistakeholder institution and members of this diverse community will often have differing views on a multitude of matters. While SU as an institution must safeguard this freedom, it does however strongly condemn any form of violence where innocent lives are affected,' said Viljoen.
He said that although a resolution on the conflict was not accepted by a majority of the Stellenbosch University Senate in April last year, the university 'acknowledges that this is a humanitarian crisis that has a devastating impact in the region as well as globally and has repeatedly expressed its sympathy for all those affected.
'It is important to emphasise that as a community of scholars, the university is committed to providing a space that encourages constructive debate and academic freedom. To fully perform its role in society, the university must maintain an environment of freedom of inquiry and expression,' he continued.
Viljoen said that Stellenbosch University was 'not the only university, locally or globally, that has refrained from an institutional stance on this issue to safeguard academic freedom'.
He did not respond to Daily Maverick's question on whether Stellenbosch University had any memoranda of understanding with Israeli universities. DM

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