A planned talk on student activism was recently suspended, following issues surrounding the event being held on the Stellenbosch University (SU) campus.
This is according to Malaika Ngwenya, Student Action for Palestine (SA4P) member and fourth-year LLB student at SU, who said that the event would have included a talk by Buti Manamela, the deputy minister of higher education.
The address was scheduled to take place on 8 May as the concluding event within SA4P’s planned participation in the annual global event ‘Week 4 Palestine’, held from 1 to 8 May, said Ngwenya. They now hope to host the event during the second semester, she said.
‘Week 4 Palestine’ flyers and pamphlets detailing the reasoning behind the annual global event, as well as the participating organisations. Student Action for Palestine (SA4P) was one of the participants in the 2025 rendition, said Zybian Anders, SA4P member and fourth-year BA (Humanities) student at Stellenbosch University. This year’s theme was ‘Red Card Israel’, as a reference to Palestinian football players who have been killed during the Israel-Palestinian conflict, according to Anders. PHOTO: Kiara Wales
Securing the venue
“A week ahead of the event, we received permission [from the university] to host it at SU’s alumni office, ‘Die Stal’,” said Zybian Anders, member of SA4P and a fourth-year BA (Humanities) student at SU.
“We were then told two days before that we could no longer hold the discussion on Thursday evening due to maintenance scheduled to occur on Friday afternoon, which didn’t make sense to us,” said Anders.
Zybian Anders, Student Action for Palestine (SA4P) member and fourth-year BA (Humanities) student, holding a sign at one of the organisation’s ‘Week 4 Palestine’ events, hosted on Stellenbosch University’s ‘Rooiplein’. PHOTO: Supplied/Zybian Anders
“The office for student governance indeed supported SA4P to secure an on-campus venue,” confirmed Dr Leslie van Rooi, acting senior director of student affairs at SU.
The university “managed to resecure the venue” one day before the discussion, said Van Rooi.
However, this came after SA4P had already been forced to postpone the event, due to having to communicate with Manamela in advance, said Anders.
SA4P was subsequently informed by staff members that another event, as well as a counter-protest to their planned discussion, had been approved for the same venue, according to Ngwenya.
‘Die Stal’, situated at Stellenbosch University’s Coetzenburg sports grounds, was the original venue assigned to Student Action For Palestine’s (SA4P) address on student activism, said Malaika Ngwenya, an SA4P member and fourth-year LLB student at Stellenbosch University. PHOTO: Kiara Wales
Alternative venue options
After SA4P members were informed that ‘Die Stal’ would be unavailable, “alternative venue options were explored, including the mosque, as part of contingency planning”, said Martin Viljoen, SU spokesperson.
According to Ngwenya, the Division for Student Governance contacted her one day ahead of the event regarding the potential securing of the local masjid for SA4P’s planned discussion.
“Although I stated that I felt that would be inappropriate, the division contacted the masjid anyways,” she said. “As an organisation, we felt that bringing political and activist debates into a place of worship would be inappropriate and disrespectful.”
Goejjatul Islam Mosque was one of the potential alternative venues contacted by Stellenbosch University (SU) staff members for Student Action For Palestine’s (SA4P) address on student activism, according to Martin Viljoen, SU spokesperson. It is the only registered masjid in Stellenbosch, according to the Muslims at Maties website. PHOTO: Kiara Wales
“Overall, we were disappointed by the university making it difficult for us to host an event which we believe to be important in the context of a student town and South Africa as a whole, and hope for future cooperation,” said Ngwenya.