DA takes legal action against Stellenbosch University over secrecy surrounding alleged impropriety during Afrikaans abolition court case

12 July 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday launched legal action against the decision by Stellenbosch University (SU) to hide information of critical public importance from public scrutiny. This follows after the SU earlier refused to comply with a request filed under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

The PAIA application was submitted in March by the DA’s constituency head in Stellenbosch and SU alumnus, Dr Leon Schreiber.

The aim of the application was to obtain the evidence considered by an investigation into allegations that the SU rector, Professor Wim de Villiers, had improper personal contact with retired judge Edwin Cameron during the Constitutional Court case about the abolition of Afrikaans as a primary and equal language of instruction at the university.

According to allegations made in the public domain, De Villiers is alleged to have had secret discussions with Cameron during the court proceedings – including at least one secret in-person meeting at OR Tambo international airport.

The goal of the conversations was apparently to convince Cameron to accept a nomination for the chancellorship at SU, after Cameron initially indicated that his “position in the judgement of the case” about abolishing Afrikaans tuition would be “hopelessly compromised” if he accepted the nomination. Despite this warning, Cameron later changed his mind and accepted the nomination, where after he wrote the judgement that effectively slit the throat of Afrikaans tuition at Stellenbosch.

A subsequent investigation by retired judge Burton Fourie absolved De Villiers of any wrongdoing, and the university accepted the investigation’s findings. But now the university is refusing to publicly release the evidence that was used to exonerate De Villiers. If the university has confidence in the finding that De Villiers did nothing wrong during the court case about the abolition of Afrikaans, why are they hiding the evidence from public scrutiny?

The DA believes that the university’s refusal to comply with the PAIA request amounts to a violation of the SU’s constitutional duty to promote the values of openness and transparency. The public clearly has a right to know whether there is any evidence that the rector of the SU held inappropriate discussions with a judge who was hearing the case about the abolition of Afrikaans, and whether the rector tried to influence a judge of the country’s apex court with the prestigious post of chancellor.

A university keeping information secret is fundamentally at odds with the principles of academic freedom. The DA will fight this effort by the SU to keep the public in the dark about the serious allegations against De Villiers, and we will not allow the constitutional right to mother tongue education to be further trampled in the process.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA constituency head: Stellenbosch, 12 July 2020