‘F—- the Jews’ Graffiti Rocks Elite South African University
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Anti-Semitic graffiti was reportedly scrawled on a building at South Africa’s elite University of the Witwatersrand, where student protests against high fees have been raging for weeks.
It was not immediatedly clear whether the ‘F—- the Jews’ screed is related to the #FeesMustFall movement, but student and Jewish groups quickly denounced the graffiti as hate speech, the Mail & Guardian newspaper reported.] (http://mg.co.za/article/2016-11-01-condemnation-for-f-the-jews-graffiti-at-wits)
“There can be no justification for such hateful, ignorant and offensive acts,” said the South African Union of Jewish Students in a Facebook post.
The antisemitic graffiti at #Wits is horrible. Donald Trump mentality. Analysis and anger must be on a system producing growing inequality. pic.twitter.com/KH74e01dMo
— Doron Isaacs (@doronisaacs) November 1, 2016
The group called on the administration at the Johannesburg university to investigate the graffiti, which was uncovered on Tuesday.
Wits and other South African universities have been wracked by turmoil for weeks as students demand a freeze on fees, which are unaffordabable for many black students.
The situation at Wits, located in South Africa’s commercial hub of Johannesburg, has been particularly volatile, with student leader Mcebo Dlamini jailed for his role in the protests and incidents of vandalism.
Wits Fees Must Fall student leader Catherine Seabe told reporters the graffiti may be linked to demands for Dlamini’s release.
The graffiti comes just two weeks after an observant Jewish student was verbally berated by fellow students on campus.
Dlamini has in the past blamed Jews for South Africa’s lingering inequality even 20 years after the fall of apartheid.
“They (Jews) are devils. They are good for nothing… They are uncircumcised in heart,” Dlamini told a local radio station in 2015.
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