Residents of Stellenbosch woke up on Monday to find they had travelled 40 years back in time.
A 19-year-old white student had urinated all over the desk of a black student then bragged about it.
Like a painfully recurring dream, much of the scene was endlessly replayed on video, scarcely believable but apparently true.
By Friday, however, the town was soaring into the future, led by thousands of students who marched straight through a cul-de-sac of history in a multiracial show of unity against racism and violence.
“There is Hope” announced one of hundreds of placards that accompanied the march to the heart of a town that had spent five days on a rollercoaster with far more stomach-churning plunges than steady climbs.
Outrage at an act of stupidity and malice turned to solidarity and reimagining of a campus once considered the crucible of Afrikaner nationalism.
On Sunday night the urinator, Theuns du Toit, apologised at a house meeting; on Monday the story hit national news headlines; by Tuesday there were TV crews set up around town; on Wednesday the politicians arrived; on Thursday student protesters closed the university library and threatened to disrupt lectures if Du Toit was not immediately expelled. And on Friday afternoon the university said exams would be delayed by a week in light of the disruption and emotional turmoil.
The week was a collective journey almost as remarkable as that of the man at the centre of the drama — Babalo Ndwayana, who had the misfortune of waking up to the spectacle of a student he knew urinating over his desk, laptop and books in the early hours of the morning, and making racist remarks.
The 19-year-old from Mdantsane in East London has spoken only briefly about what happened, but his family told the Sunday Times how the youngster’s path to Stellenbosch involved both struggle and sacrifice.
“You do not send your child to university and expect to get a call about something like this,” said Mkuseli Kaduka, who eight years ago started working the night shift at the Mercedes-Benz factory in East London to support his son's school career — in the hope of him qualifying for university.
“Babalo did his lower grades in both Port Elizabeth and East London — his mother was a teacher and they had to go wherever she could find work,” Kaduka said.
“He then came to me, and one of the reasons I took on the permanent night shift was so that I could attend school meetings. Everything I did was structured around spending time with them (Ndwayana has two younger siblings).”
When Ndwayana showed promise at school — he attended Mizamo High in Mdantsane and obtained a bursary — his family pooled their resources to share the cost.
“The bursary does not cover everything — it was quite a sacrifice,” Kaduka said, adding that his son was studying agricultural science in the hope of becoming a vet.
Kaduka said the family had reservations about Huis Marais, which has a chequered history of initiation rituals and where rugby memorabilia and team photos are prominently displayed in a glass-fronted booth adjoining the residence.
However the initial reports were positive, and Babalo enjoyed the company of his roommate. “His roommate is a white guy from Paarl and they were quite OK with each other. Some evenings they would go and watch rugby together.”
Kaduka described his son as reserved and slightly unconventional. “He is not your typical boy who plays sports. At home he does all the homely duties — he is the cook in the house.
“He will download recipes, give them to me and say, 'Dad, please can you get this for me, I want to experiment in the kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised to see he is following rugby and soccer as well — he is a Pirates fan.”
Babalo’s uncle, Anele Myondo, said the entire family had been angered by news of the incident. “It was kind of shocking and we were angry and scared for him as well because he was a child just come from the Eastern Cape,” Myando said.
“For him to encounter such a crime, it was kind of uncomfortable for the family.”
Du Toit's family have declined to speak about the incident other than to say they are hoping to reconcile with Babalo and his family — a move Kaduka says will have to wait until the incident has been investigated.
The suspended student's high school achievements at Worcester Gymnasium featured prominently this week in a front-page story in the Worcester Standard under the headline “‘Desk urinator’ from Worcester”.
Du Toit was a first-team rugby player and an accomplished provincial sportsman. He had been strong academically and was studying law at Stellenbosch University, the newspaper reported. Du Toit’s father, Rudi, is the general manager at Cilmor Winery in Worcester.
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In a response to Sunday Times queries, the lawyer representing Du Toit, William Fullard, said: “We are giving our full co-operation to the police. I have advised my client not to address the merits of the matter at this stage as the matter is under judicial consideration.”
1866: Stellenbosch Gymnasium (precursor to the university) opens its doors
1918: Stellenbosch University gets full tertiary institution status
3: Stellenbosch’s ranking in Africa’s top universities
— IN NUMBERS
In a TV interview earlier this week, Babalo said he felt Du Toit had suffered enough backlash and should be forgiven.
While some students this week said Stellenbosch remained largely untransformed relative to other universities, most agreed Du Toit’s degrading act was contrary to the generally tolerant atmosphere.
Huis Marais student Ishmael Mabena said Du Toit’s drunken indiscretion — in the video he appeared intoxicated — had “taken everybody by surprise” in the residence.
“It is something we didn’t see coming. Huis Marais is more like a brotherhood.”
However, several student leaders voiced frustration with the university administration’s slow pace of reform, particularly around language policy, disciplinary codes and removing apartheid-era references including residences named after white supremacists.
After the journey of an extraordinary week, it is still unclear whether one student’s horrific misstep has set the university on a new path or left it going round in circles.
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