Those who seek to exploit racial tensions must shoulder blame for UFS abuse
The footage showing workers being abused by students at the University of the Free State has shocked the nation. This is an instance of naked racism. We have repeatedly condemned the abuse and have called for the perpetrators to face the full force of the law for their actions.

Whilst the students involved must be held criminally liable, the point must be made that this incident did not happen in a vacuum. The fact is that racist political elements have exploited hostel integration at the University of the Free State for political purposes.

Leading this charge has been the Freedom Front Plus, as footage captured by the DA at the UFS in July last year demonstrates.

At the march, Freedom Front Plus supporters reportedly sang ‘Bobbejaan klim die berg.' The question can be legitimately asked, that in the context of the tensions on the campus, who were they referring to? Events have now shown that the only animals on this campus are the students that subjected university employees to dehumanizing abuse.

Freedom Front Plus posters on campus called on students to "hit first" to prevent racial integration of hostels. And this is exactly what the four students who made this video have done.

In an address to the Freedom Front Plus Youth Congress in Orania last week, Mr Cornelius van Rensburg, the party's National Youth Leader asked: "How free am I if government policy determines with whom I share a residence room?"

Perhaps Mr van Rensburg should ask himself how free he is if he cannot share a sense of common destiny with South Africans of all races. Retreating into a whites only apartheid-era enclave is not freedom; it is an imprisonment of the mind.

It is telling that Mr Van Rensburg has distanced the Freedom Front Plus from the racial incident at UFS. You only distance yourself from something if you were part of it.

The Freedom Front Plus's exploitation of racial tension is not limited to the UFS. In 2002, when right wingers were linked to a series of bomb blasts in Soweto, FF+ Pieter Mulder said that while his organization was opposed to violence, "the bomb blasts have at least brought the grievances of white Afrikaners to public attention."

The leadership of the Freedom Front Plus must now take responsibility for the horrific actions of students that have been incited by the party to reject hostel integration. The party could start by conducting an audit of its membership lists to ascertain whether the four students are members of the Freedom Front Plus and, if so, expel them and publicly repudiate their actions.

Yesterday DA Leader Helen Zille wrote to the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate the causes of underlying racial tension at the campus. It is clear that the Freedom Front Plus have mobilized white students to reject racial integration. It is therefore appropriate that the SAHRC includes an investigation into the Freedom Front Plus's culpability in the matter.

I will be visiting the UFS campus tomorrow to meet with the victims of the abuse to hear their story first-hand. I will also be meeting with the university authorities to ascertain the precise actions being taken by the university against the students.

The DA believes that:
· Such behaviour needs to be punished to the full extent of the law and in terms of the university's regulations.
· Such punishment should include the expulsion of implicated students still at the University and the withdrawal of any academic recognition already given to implicated students (including perpetrators that might already have left the university);

· The University authorities must report about any prior knowledge that they may have had concerning the existence of the video;

· The University must ensure that the aggrieved staff members are provided with the necessary support, including trauma counselling and support with instituting civil claims against the perpetrators;

· The University authorities must be investigated to ensure that sufficient mechanisms are in place to protect students and staff against racism and racist incidents;

· That links between political action against integration on campus last year and this incident be investigated.
South Africa faces a time of uncertainty ahead. Whilst the ANC mounts an assault on our Constitution, right wing elements are bent on undermining the values enshrined in it.

South Africans of all races must now join together to build the moderate, non-racial centre. If we do not, any gains made since 1994 will be lost.

Statement issued by Sandra Botha MP, Democratic Alliance Parliamentary Leader, February 28 2008