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“Racist” video shocks South Africa

— Photo: AFP

TRAUMATIC: This TV grab taken from South African news station ETV on Wednesday shows a white student (right, partly seen) forcing black workers to do a number of humiliating acts.

JOHANNESBURG: A video of black workers on their knees eating food which had been mixed with urine, while being mocked by four white students, has triggered outrage and strong condemnation across South Africa.

The University of the Free State (UFS), where the video surfaced on Tuesday, suspended two of the four students involved in the “racist” video, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported. The other two had completed their studies last year.

While the motives behind the video remain unclear, it depicts a mock integration of five black staff members, four women and a man, in which four white male students made the black workers drink a bottle of beer, run a race, play rugby and then kneel and eat food which had been mixed with urine, according to people who had seen the video.

Frederick Fourie, rector of the university, said his management condemned the video in the strongest terms.

Describing the video “offensive” and “degrading,” Prof. Fourie said it was a gross violation of the human dignity of the workers involved.

The management on Tuesday apologised to the “traumatised” workers for the video, which was recorded last year.

“They [workers] unwittingly took part in something, in the context where they trusted people, and it came out very differently from what they surely understood,” said Prof. Fourie.

Racial tension inside the UFS had reportedly increased due to the process of racial integration at the students’ residences, which was opposed by some white students. Police had been notified about the incident. — Xinhua

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