Like the good old apartheid times

Forced to eat meat mixed with garlic and urine, cleaners at a South African university are going through their "initiation" process. Participating in beer-downing competitions, races and mock rugby games, if the black workers are sufficiently entertaining, they go away at the end of the day with a bottle of whisky.

This is what happened at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein in central South Africa last September, when five elderly black cleaners were filmed completing the humiliating tasks. On Tuesday (26. Feb) the video of the events surfaced on the internet, causing outrage across the country. Now, the four victimisers are facing criminal charges, and mass protests are taking the country by storm.

This is what the friend are saying on an international (english) website. Go here for details.

Mr. Vanderleek
Submitted by Ingrid Stofleth (not verified) on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 18:59.
Having read Mr. Vanderleek's comments, I now have a better idea why racism lives on, loud and proud, in South Africa. If a university educated young man (the so-called "future of the country") considers these incidents as merely a manifestation of a "sick sense of humour", and the ensuing protests as "white black bullshit", then: good luck, South Africa.

NVDL: Amazing, am I the so called future of South Africa also a so called racist now? Quite a few assumptions there. Amazing how words are construed to justify what you - IS -desperately seem to want to believe. It's a sick sense of wanting to believe the worst in people isn't it? To want what they mean to be the worst that they might mean. I never said these incidents were 'merely' a manifestation, but it does point to a particular sort of attitude, and it's accurate to say that the attitude behind the making of the video shows a sick sense of humor. Not 'merely'.

If you ever lived in South Africa you would know how all South Africans feel about the Apartheid past. We're sick of it. We want to move forward. International news only refers to SA when there is a racists element to the story. The brand CNN and other news-creators want for SA is 'the country where whites are backward and give blacks a hard time'. It's great news. It's more: "see, we told you' reporting". Such obvious racism (as seen on the video) is taboo today, hence 'bullshit'. I'm not saying it never happens, I mean most good South Africans, the majority in other words, have absolute disdain for this sort of base behaviour. Stofleth's remarks reflect just as nasty a failure to try to understand as is the basis of racism.

Thanks for your good luck wishes though. We'll be needing them.