Likening people to other species ‘defies human rights’

THE South African Human Rights Commission’s Chris Nissen has condemned statements by Stellenbosch University’s Professor Jonathan Jansen in which he likened students peeing on other’s possessions to dogs marking their territory.

Nissen said the commission would be investigating the complaint levelled against Jansen by the civil rights organisation, Cape Forum.

The organisation’s complaint stemmed from an opinion piece, titled, Why Stellies racists behave like animals: last kicks of a dying horse, published on a news site.

Jansen penned his opinion in the wake of the release of the Khampepe

Commission report which probed complaints of racism at the university, emanating from the Theuns du Toit incident. Du Toit was expelled after disciplinary proceedings found him guilty of urinating on top of the desk and laptop of Babalo Ndwayana at the Huis Marais student residence.

Two other incidents where students urinated on themselves or the belongings of their roommates occurred after Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe was picked to lead the probe.

“The reason you have this latter-day racism at Stellenbosch is because the university is changing, not because it is untransformed,” read the article.

“Why would the Free State students and the now three incidents at Stellenbosch involve men and urine?

“Just like dogs use urine to mark their territory and anxiety, white male students use the same strategy to protest black incursion into their intimate spaces, such as residences,” it read.

Nissen said: “Comparing a human to any species is a human rights violation.

“First of all, human beings are human beings and the basis of our rights falls on our dignity, so the other side must be given the right to defend themselves.

“You can never compare a human to anything else.”

Nissen has urged that space be given for the investigation to run its course.

“Let us not turn this into a race, cultural or linguistic thing.

“No one should be stigmatised or labelled. We already grew up in a time where teachers would tell learners they were dom; this affects their future, let us think of their dignity.

“While we are treating this as an allegation, we should also remember that something like this should never happen,” he said.

Jansen said he was at peace with what he wrote. “Both linguists and lawyers, including a senior judge consulted, say the complaint is ridiculous.

“No human being is a dog and the article, using metaphorical language, does not say that,” he said.

Cape Forum chairperson Heindrich Wyngaard said Jansen’s comparison of the actions of white male students to those of dogs was uncalled for, inflammatory and insulting.

“History has taught us about the danger of labelling a certain community, ethnic or cultural group.

“We request that the commission investigate this matter and take the necessary steps if they find the language used by Professor Jansen is inhumane, hateful, and hurtful,” he said.