People reacted with outrage after a 2012 video resurfaced on X, formerly Twitter, of a group of White South African students wearing blackface while protesting the University of Pretoria for favoring Black students when it came to admissions.
Blackface, historically rooted in racism, involves a non-black person darkening their skin with makeup to caricature a black person, perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
The video features members of Afriforum Youth, a group known for advocating for minority rights, staging a demonstration at the Department of Higher Education and Training to dispute admissions policies at the University of Pretoria's veterinary institute.
The students accused school officials of discriminating against white students, claiming that they were being unfairly denied entry while Black students were favored. In an attempt to make their point, they painted their faces black, symbolizing their belief that they needed to be Black to be treated fairly.
You can see the video below.
The protest was organized by Afriforum, a South African non-governmental organization focused mainly on the interests of Afrikaners, a subgroup of the country's white population.
At the time, Afriforum Youth Chairman Charl Oberholzer, alleged that 30 prospective students with outstanding academic achievements were not admitted because of their race.
He claimed that only 22 white matriculants from the 2011 group were allowed to enroll in the veterinary science faculty that year:
“Every year, 140 students are admitted to the veterinary science faculty and only 22 white matriculants from the 2011 group may be admitted."
The University of Pretoria acknowledged that only 22 white students would be enrolled that year. However, they clarified that other white students who matriculated before the previous year would also be admitted after completing a year's study in an animal science or biological science degree program.
Many were outraged and disgusted after seeing the video.
The controversial policy protested by the Afriforum Group aims to provide more educational opportunities to disadvantaged and marginalized students. Its primary goal is to ensure that students from such backgrounds have the chance to train as veterinarians. However, the group argues that this policy amounts to "racial targeting."
Many individuals, including university officials, have rejected the group's claims, asserting that the members fail to comprehend the historical inequities in higher education that stem from South Africa's past conflicts.
The vast majority of Black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994 as a result of apartheid, which enforced racial segregation. For decades, anti-apartheid activists and the African National Congress fought an uphill and often deadly battle against the state.
However, White nationalist Afrikaners have asserted that apartheid was not a crime against humanity and have spread conspiracy theories about "White genocide" perpetrated by the country's majority Black population.
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