Page 187 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

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universities, students on campus and “probLems with the army”
It is clear from the above that on Afrikaans campuses and at the University of Stellen-
bosch there were little enough sympathy with opposition groups – even the liberal white
political parties. likewise to correlate with a low protest potential, the repression potential
amongst Afrikaner students was high. More than 90% of Afrikaner students were unsym-
pathetic to the ANC, one of the liberation movements. Repression potential (in other words
to be in favour of physically breaking up meetings of the radical opposition, banning their
office bearers or jailing them) was likewise high, namely 88,2%. this applied also to the
52
University of Stellenbosch and presumably students of the military academy included in the
sample. Relationships with the students from the military academy despite the distance of
170 kilometres (approximately and hour and a half’s drive) were accommodating, more than
cordial.
The relative isolation of Stellenbosch and the Military Academy contributed to this. How-
ever in certain respects the University of Stellenbosch was not the same as in 1970. By 1984
when the South African Defence Force was deployed in black townships (the first being
Sebokeng) small numbers of white students protested. From those that started their studies
at Stellenbosch a number were previous conscripts of all ranks. The majority of students as
argued above formed part of the manipulated consciousness. Yet some students amongst
them previous conscripts (now citizen force members actively awaiting their yearly call ups)
voiced their opposition against the government of the day and its policies. It has to be said
that the number was extremely small – probably of those that were socialised through con-
scription and citizen force call ups on a yearly basis, less than 1 % of the student population
of Stellenbosch (very much the same applies to other Afrikaans universities).

Some examples of dissenting voices at Stellenbosch included:
A petition defending academic freedom when university authorities prevented a spokes
person of the internal wing of the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) of
Namibia to deliver a lecture at the University of Stellenbosch (18 October 1983);
th
A member of the Student’s Representative Council (SRC) that called for a motion of no
confidence in the Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, Mr. P W Botha who incidentally
was also the President of the Republic of South Africa;
Stellenbosch students intending to meet with the ANC in Lusaka; their passports were
withdrawn;
Stellenbosch students meeting with the ANC in Harare during an emergency session of
the World Council of Churches meeting in Harare, 1985;
Regular publicity given to student dissidence, objection to military service, student dem-
onstrations and unrest at the liberal universities and the so-called “bush colleges”;
Students taking part in the UDF’s One Million Signature Campaign and a boycott of
white businesses during 1983 and 1984;
The creation of a branch of the National Union of South African Students (Nusas) at

52 J. Gagiano, Ruling Group Cohesion in South Africa: A study of the political attitudes among white students
in: i. liebenberg and C. van der lugt, Worlds of Difference: Political Attitudes of White Students in South
Africa (Idasa, Mowbray, 1990), p. 29.