Delayed phone call not enough, says father of Stellenbosch student

The father of the victim involved in the Stellenbosch racist incident says he has no immediate intention of meeting his counterpart — the father of the student accused of tormenting his son.

Mkuseli Kaduka told TimesLIVE on Thursday that before a meeting takes place he wants the police and the university to conclude their investigations into the incident at the university’s Huis Marais residence on Sunday.

Theuns du Toit urinated on the desk and laptop of fellow first-year agriculture student Babalo Ndwayana in an act the 20-year-old from the Eastern Cape claimed was racially motivated.

Kaduka said he would have expected to receive some form of apology from either the perpetrator or his father immediately after the incident.

“That is why I delayed laying charges against him [Theuns du Toit]. I was expecting an adult person would reach out to me [immediately] and that we could talk this through sensibly,” Kaduka said.

Instead he only received a call from Rudi du Toit, general manager of a Worcester wine farm, on Wednesday. “They kept quiet. It was disappointing that the father did not reach out to me [earlier], the aggrieved parent. Maybe some compassion would have been shown,” Kaduka said.

Kaduka also expressed his disappointment in a Facebook post on Thursday which read: “There are rumours making rounds that I’m meeting with the family of the perpetrator to reconcile with them.

“I did receive a call from the boy’s father trying to plead his son’s case as any parent would.

“There are certain forces who are driving their agenda and perpetuating false information.

“I do not have plans to meet with the Du Toits although they would love for that to happen. I’m very much committed to seeing this fight through to the end.

“If I come out of this with anything [it should] be the dignity of my child restored and the perpetrator facing what’s due to them. I will not waiver nor yield in my quest to seek justice.”

In an earlier interview with Netwerk24, Rudi du Toit said he hoped to reconcile with Kaduka: “As parents we are prepared to walk a path together to achieve reconciliation and clear up the matter in a beautiful way.”

But Kaduka said he wants the law to run its course. “My only involvement would be to ask to have a meeting with the university and get a commitment from them that they will deal with this speedily and decisively and go to the police station and enquire how far they are with their investigation.

“What is holding them back from making an arrest?”

The race drama overshadowed Wednesday night’s inauguration of new university chancellor Edwin Cameron, a former Constitutional Court justice.

In his address, Cameron said the incident made him feel deeply ashamed. “I was grief-stricken, ashamed as a man, and as a white man, that things like that can still happen. But it also spurred me to a new resolution that we can do better,” Cameron said at the event.

TimesLIVE

Mkuseli Kaduka says he is not prepared to meet Rudi du Toit until the completion of investigations into the incident at Stellenbosch University involving their sons.

Mkuseli Kaduka says he is not prepared to meet Rudi du Toit until the completion of investigations into the incident at Stellenbosch University involving their sons.
Image: Facebook/Mkuseli Kaduka

 

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