Hon Chairperson, the ANC is concerned about the dropping of the internal charges by the University of the Free State and the possible withdrawal of the criminal charges against the former students who abused black workers in the institution.
Contrary to the claim by Prof Jansen that dropping the internal charges and welcoming the students back to the institution will lead to reconciliation at the university, the view of the ANC is that this will not lead to reconciliation but will, again, harden racial attitudes, not only in the university but in the country in general.
The ANC believes that the judicial process should have been given a chance before deciding to withdraw the internal charges and that could have helped in correcting the former students' behaviour to conform to a democratic and nonracial South Africa. Dropping these charges has robbed the former students, their victims, the university, and South Africa of such corrections.
Perhaps at the end of the judicial process, all of us would have been persuaded to forgive the former students. After the conclusion of the judicial process we would have been able to be apprised of the students' attitude towards their actions, and of their probable show of remorse for their actions.
The ANC welcomes the University of the Free State's decision to reopen the consultation process with regard to the four students who allegedly humiliated workers as something that should have been done before the announcement was made. I thank you. [Applause.]