Dear Editor
The DA condemns the recent advertising of internships by the University of Stellenbosch’s Department of Agronomy which are only available to certain races. Discriminatory race quotas dehumanise everyone.
The Stellenbosch University advert for Junior Research Technician interns specifically excluded white applicants, and it racially-engineered who could and who could not take up the internship.
The University’s subsequent explanation, to blame this on the racially divisive criteria laid down by their funders, must be rejected out of hand. Universities should not bend on principles to the whims of those with money.
The DA does note the University’s admission of a mistake and the intention of the University to rectify the racial criteria with “new wording”. We look forward to the new advertisement not discriminating against any applicant on the basis of race.
No organisation, especially a public institution such as a University, should treat South Africans as demographic categories instead of individuals with unique talents and unique ambitions. This is a very dangerous strategy, which can only divide South Africans and pit races against one another.
Whether the target is to give opportunity to white, black, Indian, or coloured citizens, the principle is the same: no one should be reduced to a quota, and no opportunity should be denied to someone based solely on their race.
The DA is fighting for a South Africa where opportunities are expanded to more people, not narrowed down to fewer. The DA seeks a future where institutions correct past injustices through investment, training, and fair access, not by discriminating in any direction.
The DA trusts that the University of Stellenbosch will abandon any future actions, policies and strategies which reduce students to racial quotas.
Regards
Jan de Villiers MP
DA National Spokesperson