ANT KATZ

ABOVE: Dlamini tries to justify his “I Love Hitler” statement in an E-nca interview

But that was by far not the end of the story. The situation has risen to a new height over the past week, and seems set to heat up even more in the coming week. To date, Habib seems to have handled the situation deftly – putting out each new fire as it flares up.

Sparks continue to fly around the removal of University of Witwatersrand (Wits) Students Representative Council (SRC) President Mcebo Dlamini, who infamously posted on his Facebook page last month that he loves Hitler, was “removed” by Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib on May 4, for an offence unrelated to the Hitler comments.

But that was not the end of the story.

STORY CONTINUED BELOW PICTURE

ABOVE: Habib is unable to hide his anger as Dlamini lets off steam

Here’s how events rolled out this week:

In a well-considered and measured 1 500-word blog on the Wits website last Monday, Habib stuck to his guns regarding his removal of Dlamini and openly answered all of his critics in his blog titled “Let us not become what we have always hated”.

Tackling a laundry-list of criticisms, Habib stated: “There is another view that I am a prisoner of Jewishness or whiteness. I find this distressing because of its inherent racist assumptions.

“Again, let me be transparent. I am an open critic of the Israeli state. I have written about the Gaza war and Israel’s atrocities. However, my criticism of the Israeli state cannot translate into a hatred of Jews just as my criticism of the US government cannot translate into a hatred of Americans.

“When we allow this, we violate the fundamental values of our Constitution, but also our liberation itself,” he wrote.

RIGHT: Dlamini in front of Wits’ Great Hall

Just two days later, a defiant Dlamini – who by now has accumulated 5 000-odd Facebook followers and was doing a national tour of campuses where he was being hailed as a hero – posted the following on his Facebook page: “Tomorrow morning at exactly 11h30am I’ll be at the University of Limpopo to exchange views with bright black minds… at 17h00 same day tomorrow I’ll be in UKZN sharing ideas with black academics there…”.

And, just in case anyone had missed the racist implication of that post, on Wednesday May 13, Dlamini posted: “Dear White people, we Black masses have reached a point of no return.”

The following day, the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) issued two ultimatums. In the first, Sasco’s Gauteng provincial executive committee gave Dlamini until close of business on Monday May 18 to hand in a hand-written retraction of his “I love Hitler” statement or face the possibility of a disciplinary action.

Sasco’s second ultimatum on Thursday was directed at Prof Habib who, they said, should reinstate Dlamini as SRC president by close of business on Friday May 15, failing which it vowed to make Wits ungovernable.

SA Jewish Report has been unable to contact either Dlamini or Habib, but all seems to be quiet on the campus according to student sources.

On Monday May 18, The New Age reported that the Sasco Wits chapter was still threatening to bring the institution to a standstill unless it reinstated Dlamini, quoting Joy Phiri, deputy secretary-general of Sasco.

Also on Monday, the campus newspaper, Wits Vuvuzela, ran a story headlined “’Abnormalities’ in policy for SRC president’s removal” in which they made the case that Dlamini’s removal may have been irregular. Their source: the deputy head at the School of Law at Wits, Mtendeweka Mhango.

More this intriguing story… 

Related reads and links

• HABIB COULD BE WALKING ON THIN LEGAL ICE
• ADAM HABIB’S 1500-WORD BLOG IN FULL
• UNREPENTANT WITS HITLER-LOVER GETS THE CHOP
• WITS HITLER DEBACLE WELL-HANDLED BY HABIB?