By Daniëlle Gerber
Freedom Day is celebrated across South Africa on 27 April. On this day in 1994, South Africa saw its first democratic election, declaring the end of Apartheid. While 28 years have passed, South Africa still has a long way in decolonisation. The same can also be said for Stellenbosch, while a beautiful town, it is evident that a lot of the structures and maintenance commemorate exclusivity. Stellenbosch University, which occupies a large part of the Stellenbosch Central vicinity, has made active attempts at making the town more inclusive in recent years, such as:
The newly named Krotoa building:
August 2021 saw the RW Wilcocks building renamed to the Krotoa building. This building is the home of many prominent departments of the university, namely History and Psychology, the Division of Research Development, and SU Archives[i], amongst others. Krotoa was a woman of the Khoe people who lived in the same time as the Dutch colonisers, and served as an interpreter and interlocutor between the Khoe People and the VOC (Dutch East Indian Company), as explained by the Corporate Communication and Marketing Division of Stellenbosch University.
Benches on the Rooiplein
The Rooiplein is the paved area outside the ‘Neelsie’ (Langenhoven Student Centre). Situated between the centre of Merrimen and Victoria Street, and above the University Library, this location sees a large part of the university population on a daily basis. Benches on the Rooiplein have been stamped with welcoming messages in fifteen different languages, including braille and sign language as an attempt to make campus a more inclusive space for students from different backgrounds.
‘The Circle’
‘The Circle’ can also be found on the Rooiplein. It shows eleven different bronze art installations positioned in a circle. These installations depict eleven powerful women in South Africa’s history. ‘The Circle’ was installed in 2019 and serves to remind of the ’dynamic role that women play in conversation’, as well as to motivate more women to participate and engage in conversation and discourse on campus[i].
Putting an emphasis on inclusivity is especially important in South Africa where multiple cultures and backgrounds meet due to the university’s history. Stellenbosch University student Elina Kamanga conducted a research thesis, titled Lived Experiences of Hidden Racism of Students of Colour at an Historically White University, in which people of colour from Stellenbosch University could share their experience of implicit biases, exclusion, and hidden racism on campus[i]. The Stellenbosch University Division for Social Impact has initiated the ‘visual redress project’ to transform Stellenbosch University and let us hope that this is what will eventually free Stellenbosch from residual colonialism.
[i] Corporate Communication and Marketing Division. SU names building after Krotoa. (Online: SUN)
[ii] Asiphe Nombewu. 2019. Changing SU’s landscape through new visual symbols. (Online: SUN)
[iii] Bongekile Macupe. 2020. Study unpacks the ‘hidden racism’ at Stellenbosch. (Online: Mail & Guardian)
