SRC member apologises for using a racial slur

by PDBY Staff | Oct 23, 2017 | News

DITEBOGO TSHAKA

Kyle Goosen, SRC representative for Marketing Media and Communications is facing an internal disciplinary hearing for calling SRC president Kwena Moloto N***er.

On 18 October, Goosen took to Facebook to explain the circumstances behind his use of the slur. According to Goosen, on 15 September, the night before a Department of Student Affairs camp, a team building event took place for SRC members.

Over the course of the evening, the team instructor conducted an activity where the group members had to greet one another “in stereotypical ways of different nationalities, [for example] an English gentleman, an Irish man, a lumber jack and an American gangster”. In the Facebook post Goosen writes that, “The way in which he [the instructor] pulled his pants down and enacted [sic] his way of what he believed American gangsters act like.”

It was at this point that Goosen and his group were greeting each other in American accents, that he said to Moloto, “what’s up my ni**a.”

Goosen claims that he did not think about what he had said and “did not [intend] this word as derogatory or relating to race”.

He stated that when Moloto spoke to him about the use of the word, he apologised to him “for not being mindful of the severity [sic] such a word has”.

“I emphasize to everyone that it is not alright to use the word whether you think you are being funny or wrapping [sic] a song. We, especially as white peoples, should not misappropriate the word. It is a word that has caused people to feel lesser it is a word that caused fear in the hearts of millions, it is symbol of human segregation it is symbol of repression and hardship, we cannot allow it to still hold the power it has, no matter the situation or the setting, it should never be used,” Goosen wrote.

According to a source who wishes to remain anonymous, Goosen “used the N***er to [the] SRC president in front of DSA structure leaders like myself”.

The source told Perdeby that they reported Goosen to the Director of Student Affairs, Dr. Matete Madiba and, per the Constitution of Student Governance, they referred it to the Constitutional Tribunal. “The Tribunal held a mediation and the outcomes were that he makes a public apology, also he will be subjected to [an] SRC internal disciplinary hearing,” they said.

Moloto confirmed that the SRC had referred the matter to the Constitutional Tribunal where “mediation process then ensued between Mr Goosen and the plaintiff”. He also said that the SRC would be instituting an internal disciplinary.

 

Illustration: Rhodeen Davies

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