In May, Stellenbosch University (SU) found itself at the center of controversy following an incident of discrimination in which a student Theuns du Toit was caught on camera urinating on the belongings of a black first-year student Babalo Ndwayana in his dorm room. Here’s the full story behind this incident.
The Central Disciplinary Committee of Stellenbosch University issued its judgment in the case of the widely reported controversial incident in which one of the university’s students, Theuns du Toit urinated on a fellow student’s laptop.
The judgment revealed how the incident took place through the perspectives of witnesses, the victim, and du Toit.
It is reported that on 14 May 2023, du Toit along with his friend, known as Mr. Y, consumed alcohol in their residence known as Huis Marais. During the hearing, du Toit confessed to having consumed half a bottle of brandy within the residence and more alcohol at two other establishments over the course of the night with Mr. Y.
It is said that the accused consumed about one and a half bottles’ worth of brandy between 7/8 pm on 14 May and 2/3 am on 15 May. During this time he claims to have periodically ‘blanked out’ due to the alcohol consumption causing him to fail to remember periods of time at the establishments.
Du Toit and Mr. Y returned to Huis Marais at around 3 am on 15 May and proceeded to enter a friend’s room who is known as Mr. Z. They claim that their intention in Mr. Z’s room was to ‘fool around’ or engage in innocent drunken antics.
Mr. Y left after ten minutes and went to bed but du Toit stayed in Mr. Z’s room where he attempted to call a friend who lived in Huis Marais. In the hearing Mr. Z stated that the accused was “slurring” and “quite intoxicated” and after attempting to make the phone call with the help of Mr. Z he fell asleep on Mr. Z’s bed.
Mr. Z had tried to wake du Toit up but he was unable to and fell asleep in his bed alongside the accused. Mr. Z woke up at around 8 am with du Toit no longer next to him.
Du Toit stated that he had woken up at around 6 am and left Mr. Z’s room to return to his own room on the floor above and that he had only been informed of what he had done earlier that morning at around 10 am.
The report states that it is undisputed that around 4:30 am on 15 May du Toit entered the room two doors down from Mr. Z’s room – the room of a black student Babalo Ndwayana who was the victim of his actions.
Ndwayana had woken up to the sound of someone in his room and before he could turn on the light he witnessed du Toit standing in the corner of his room urinating on his belongings. A fellow member of Huis Marais known as Mr. X walked past and witnessed the event and attempted to de-escalate the situation by telling Ndwayana to record the accused.
The victim recorded the incident on his cellphone which shows du Toit urinating on his belongings and when Ndwayana asks him what he is doing he replies that he is “waiting for someone”. It couldn’t be determined whether du Toit used the word “boy” after his reply.
After the video ends, Ndwayana alleges that after asking Du Toit why he was urinating on his belongings, the accused stated “it’s a white boy thing” or “this is what white boys do”. During the hearing, all those involved made it evidently clear that at no point did the disputed phrase include the term “black boys”, which circulated in the media.
After du Toit left Ndwayana’s room he said he returned to Mr. Z’s room to sleep.
On 21 July 2023, the independent Central Disciplinary Committee (DCD) of Stellenbosch University found Theuns du Toit guilty of contravening clauses of the disciplinary code for students and he was expelled from the institution.
The university’s deputy vice-chancellor Professor Deresh Ramjugernath said due process had been thoroughly followed in the lead-up to the verdict.
According to him, the institution took this situation very seriously and he believes this was demonstrated, among other things, by Du Toit’s initial interim suspension from the university and the appointment of Justice Sisi Khampepe to head a commission of inquiry investigating allegations of racism at the organization.
Du Toit has five workdays to file a notice of appeal.
