Puk student Beatha Groenwald resigns after alleged unbearable bullying

Beàtha Groenewald, secretary of the North-West University’s (NWU) Potchefstroom Student Campus Council (SCC), has resigned after NWU’s alleged bully behaviour made her position unbearable.

Groenewald was initially dismissed on 13 February after a decision was made that students from town residence would be excluded from the Puk’s welcoming function, based on their racial composition. She took a stand against what she saw as racial exclusion.

AfriForum Youth stepped in to offer her legal aid for what they described as an unfair dismissal, and yesterday – on 23 February, at 14h37 – the SCC issued a press release acknowledging her Groenewald’s dismissal had been a mistake, and announcing it had been withdrawn and she was re-appointed.

However, five minutes later- at 14h42 – the SCC’s chairperson Yikumba Andreas sent an email to SCC members informing them of an extraordinary meeting to bring a second motion of no confidence against Groenewald.

AfriForum said in a statement that the ambiguous messages spread by the NWU structures cause great confusion and appear to be an attempt to mislead the public; and that it is experienced as bullying behavior which continues to target a student leader after she stood up for justice. René van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum Youth, said:

“It seems as if this was just a cheap exercise in public relations. The bullying behaviour of the NWU structures is unacceptable and AfriForum Youth will maintain their stand against this type of behaviour until justice is done.”

The organisation said Groenewald is resigning to distance herself from the way in which the SCC currently functions. She feels that this goes against her moral values ​​and in addition “the constant harassment and bullying became unbearable for her”.