Due to the recent controversy surrounding SAUJS, the SRC, SASCO, the PSC UP. and the presence of Israeli Apartheid Week (13 March to 17 March), PDBY finds it important to highlight the background of two of the key committees.
When was the committee founded at UP?
PSC Chairperson Meara Pillay, LLB Postgrad: PSC was founded in 2021 by our former Chairwoman, Hanan Jeppie, following the global outrage that occurred due to the bombing and airstrikes in Gaza at that time.
SAUJS Chairperson Sasha Said, BSW Second Year: SAUJS, which is an acronym for the South African Union of Jewish Students, is the representative body of Jewish students at the University of Pretoria. Jewish Students have been organizing at the university for at least a decade.
What are your aims as a society?
Pillay: First and foremost, we aim to bring awareness to the plight faced by Palestinian citizens. Mainstream media neglects to cover the affairs of Palestine, and often their struggle gets lost and forgotten. Thus, we have taken it upon ourselves to educate the student population of the Palestinian liberation movement, continuously, whilst also pointing out the way in which Israeli policies mimic apartheid much like it had occurred in South Africa. Ultimately, we aim to abolish the presence of Zionism, as an ideology, in our higher education institutions of learning. Students in a democratic dispensation should be far removed from any presence of apartheid.
Said: Our core guiding principles are Judaism, South Africa, and Zionism as these are important and relevant to every Jewish student. We aim is to uplift and enhance Jewish student life on campus, and this year we have taken an approach in which we want to help and enhance every single student’s life on campus.
What have you achieved so far?
Pillay: In 2022, PSC’s executive committee raised R20 000 in funds, which was donated to Palestine by the Gift of Givers on our behalf. PSC UP, in partnership with PSC Wits and our higher body, BDS, delivered a memorandum to the Department of International Relations. As of March 2023, the National Freedom Party has since drafted a resolution to downgrade South Africa’s embassy in Israel, which has now been passed by Parliament. We have gained widespread support on the Hatfield campus, acquiring almost 300 signatures during the 2023 marketing week. Upon recent developments regarding the partnership between our SRC and SAUJS, PSC UP has since formed a coalition with several other progressive societies at the university.
Said: So far during our term as SAUJS 2023, we have been working tirelessly to make this year as active and meaningful for students as possible after being off campus for so many years due to COVID. We have hosted two successful parties. Right now, we are running a “Necessity Drive” in which individuals or groups can donate items such as blankets, toothpaste/toothbrushes , pads, deodorant. and other essential items. We will be distributing these items to those who need them. We are in the works of partnering up with an orphanage here in Pretoria to take the children out to museums and other locations. We have partnered up with an old age home in order to write Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards that we can deliver to the elderly who live there. As well as running events that correlate with Passover which celebrates the Jewish People leaving Egypt and making their way to Israel!
A message for students:
Pillay: We would like students to know that antisemitism claims made against us are unfounded. The Constitution of PSC clearly stipulates that we are a non-secular, anti-discriminatory, and inclusive organization. Our cause is not against Judaism, the religion, but rather against Zionism, the ideology. We take pride in our South African democracy, and simply wish to afford the same to the people of Palestine. Ultimately, we are a humanitarian group, that operates under the pillars of peace, self-determination, and human dignity.
Said: We know there has been a lot of controversy about the Middle East. As SAUJS we get many questions regarding Israel. We will always be willing to engage and discuss. We are happy to speak to anyone on campus, especially those wanting to make the university a more inclusive place and one that is free from discrimination on issues like gender, racism, and antisemitism.
