Call to Action over University’s Human Rights Violation
18 January 2022
____________________
A lesser known evil of Apartheid South Africa was the regime’s chemical and biological weapons programme, Project Coast. Victims of this diabolical organisation were black South Africans and anyone deemed an enemy of the state. In 1985, Project Coast began to research an experimental vaccine, designed to inflict infertility and sterility on black South Africans. This could certainly be described as intent to commit genocide. How distressing that South Africa is repeating this disgraceful episode from history, with
those persecuted under Apartheid now adapting similar tactics when it comes to Covid-19 vaccinations.
It’s especially unedifying to witness the Born Free generation being subjected to medical Apartheid. Many are now university students, facing a terrible choice of dropping out of their studies or being forced to take an experimental vaccine they neither need or want. Equally as disturbing is that this is being forced upon them by historical victims of Apartheid, who really should know better, with some of the Born Free students being willing participants in this creation of medical Apartheid at their universities.
The recent fiasco over the vaccine mandate at the University of Cape Town in South Africa (UCT) is a chilling example.
On the 13 January, the UCT Law Student Council (LSC) emailed students to inform them that the policy for mandatory vaccination had been passed.
The LSC ignored the fact that on 20 December 2021, vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng issued a statement on the UCT website, confirming that the university’s vaccine mandate was still in draft form and requested consultation feedback from stakeholders. The process only finishes on 31 January which means that currently there is no official UCT vaccine mandate in place.
Concerned parents and students protested the blatant lie that the UCT vaccine mandate had been passed.
On the 14 January, the LSC responded by emailing an apology and retraction:
That the LSC discounted the publically known fact that UCT has not yet completed its consultation on mandatory vaccinations is a poor show, especially for future lawyers who should be exhibiting analytical, critical thinking skills.
When I approached the LSC for an explanation and a chance for them to tell their side of the story I was met with a vague response and obstruction, and was told that their reference to ‘senior leadership’ was in fact a ‘student leader above them’ and that I did not have permission to mention the LSC. That future South African lawyers see fit to silence journalists seeking the truth does not bode well for free speech in the country.
The LSC is not the only UCT association to act in a seemingly negligent way. A few weeks earlier, on Christmas Eve, a student received an email from Student Housing insisting that students returning in January would need proof of a Covid-19 vaccination:
After the student queried this further by pointing out that there is no vaccine mandate in place, Student Housing lied by telling the student to note that the vaccine mandate has been ‘implemented by the university’.
Questions should be asked of why students are being lied to and why UCT has not yet issued a condemnation of this bad practice. There are already reports of vaccine injuries among UCT students, which seemingly don’t trouble the university administration.
The draft UCT mandate document sent out to stakeholders is also a matter of concern. It’s littered with lies. How many students will have the time or knowledge to debunk these? An example is this section on natural immunity:
For an institution of higher learning it’s shocking practice not to provide a link to the study they reference. Why is UCT propagating anti-science nonsense that those who had Covid must be vaccinated? This document is nothing less than propaganda for its funders, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (GF) which has given hundreds of millions of Rands to the university. For example, in September 2020 UCT was granted US$1,4million to research HIV in South Africa. Given these sizable grants it’s no wonder UCT parrots the GF’s narrative on vaccines.
This web of deceit is made even more apparent when considering the fact that in December 2020, South Africa paid the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation vaccine outfit, COVAX, R283million and in April 2021, also made a down-payment on 12 million doses.
The GF seemingly want a return on their vaccine investments and their UCT puppets are ensuring that this will happen. How depressing that students who are at very low risk of dying from Covid-19 are being targeted as cash cows.
It’s a scientific fact that Covid-19 is not dangerous for young, fit, healthy people. https://www.pandata.org/20-lies/ They have no need for a Covid-19 vaccine.
A worried parent of a UCT student has concerns:
‘It appears as though various members of UCT (both staff and students) are proceeding under the assumption that UCT’s vaccination mandate is already in place, and are disseminating misinformation in regard thereto.
UCT leadership is, in my opinion, guilty of gross dereliction of duty, as well as psychological and emotional abuse. My family alone has suffered tremendous trauma over this. I cannot imagine what staff are going through. I am sure that many are physically ill because of the stress that UCT has put us through.
Personally, my family has a great respect for drugs (vaccines are a type of drug) and for medical interventions. We see them as life-saving, but rely on them only when they are needed. This is our free choice to make, that is guaranteed in the South African constitution. All interventions have side-effects and need to be treated with the utmost respect.
The current C19 drugs do not prevent infection or transmission to a large enough degree to be able to claim that using them will have a public health benefit.’
A concerned UCT alumnus also makes pertinent points:
‘As an alumni I felt it was my duty to speak out given the set of circumstances that came to be. The fact that the Law Faculty could commit such a grievous error was to me incredible. The erroneous communication sent out by the SLC of UCT can only be viewed as coercive in nature.
This, as I’m sure you are aware, runs counter to all manner of local and international laws, conventions and protocols, not least of which is the Nuremberg Code. That institutions of learning are ignoring this fact and are proceeding with blatantly coercive methods to achieve, what is to date an unproven end, must raise intense scrutiny and investigation by all people of good will and intent.
Given South Africa’s awful past in terms of human rights abuses it is imperative for every South African of good conscience to take note of what has transpired in this regard, stand up and defend the hard won rights we have achieved and that are enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.’
UCT was planning to implement its vaccine mandate on 1 March. The proper consultation process was deferred by stake holders and is now set for 1 April. CHD Africa. Currently, there is no vaccine mandate in place at UCT.
Is the consultation merely window dressing rather than an earnest attempt to glean opposing viewpoints? Given the lies emanating from both the LSC and Student Housing this would be the logical conclusion.
The concerned parent’s comments on the UCT general meeting in December are illuminating:
‘I attended the virtual Annual General Meeting of the UCT Convocation on 9 December 2021. At this point in time the public had been led to believe that the ‘vaccine’ mandate was a final decision that had been made by council and that a draft policy would be issued. A question was asked in the meeting about the mandate and the Chancellor only then brought it to everyone’s attention that the mandate was in fact NOT a ‘done deal’ and would NOT be enforced from 1 January 2022. She shared the news that a public participation process would be undertaken.
This was a shock to all as no communication to this effect had been shared with the press or students or staff. It had major implications for those who had decided, under duress, to be vaccinated, because they were being forced to, in order to attend UCT, or be employed by, or offer services to UCT. I guess it could be seen to be a form of blackmail. And then to be told, flippantly, that actually there was currently no mandate in place. In my opinion the choice that UCT made to effectively withhold this decision that the mandate was being delayed could be seen to be malfeasance.’
So far, the only official student protest has been from the SA Union of Students (SAUS) which supports voluntary vaccination but opposes mandatory vaccination. Its spokesperson correctly notes that universities should be places of debate and intellectual discourse, not the sites of draconian enforcement measures.
SAUS are planning nationwide protests if universities continue with the implementation of vaccine mandates. I asked UCT SRC for a comment but they did not reply. Lawyers for concerned parents and students dispatched a letter to UCT on 14 January, asking for a response by 18 January. To date they have not yet received a response.
How appalling that this travesty is happening at the same university that Robert F. Kennedy gave his anti-Apartheid ‘Ripples of Hope’ speech in 1966. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB_PgzkhcOs
Despite that fact that experts are now saying that the Covid-19 pandemic is over, the UCT administration is irrationally pursuing a path towards imposing a vaccine mandate. The virus is now endemic. Virology Professor, Shabir Madhi, says that the State of Disaster must now be disbanded and that there is no need for any lockdown restrictions. South Africans must learn to live with the virus.
Most importantly, the Commission for Gender Equality is warning that vaccine mandates violate the constitutional rights of workers and ‘tramples on human rights‘.
What possible justification can UCT have now to mandate this injection? But what is occurring at UCT is indicative of a greater malaise affecting South Africa. This deceitfulness over Covid-19 by this university, the government and the mainstream media is not only wrong but is harmful to fit, young students who do not need or want the vaccination. Data is skewed to fit the official narrative. For example, the government claims that 82 per cent of patients hospitalised with the virus are unvaccinated but neglects to supply the actual number of patients. This could be five or fifty or five thousand. Percentages without this relevant numerical data serve only to propagate the scare campaign and are meaningless in offering a real understanding of exactly how many people are seriously ill. That official figures do not contain this information inevitably leads to the conclusion that the number is indeed of very little consequence when it comes to much exaggerated fears of overwhelming health services.
How pitiful that the country has been so scarred by anti-science, draconian lockdowns that many think that the only way to prevent further lockdowns is mandatory vaccinations. Those who should know better, like Cosatu, once known for protesting the evils of Apartheid, now champion restrictions and persecution of the unvaccinated, and cheer on mandatory vaccinations for its members.
https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/industrial/u-turn-cosatu-now-backs-mandatory-vaccination-but-other-unions-are-still-averse-20211129
South Africa does not yet have an official mandatory vaccination policy countrywide but certain businesses, trade unions, schools and universities are implementing forced vaccinations on their respective employees, members and students. All are guilty of instituting medical Apartheid, a chilling echo of South Africa’s Apartheid system.
The battle is not over yet. UCT’s woeful attempts to enforce a vaccine mandate are a horrifying example of the persecution and exclusion of the Other, the unvaccinated. No student, whether in Cape Town or in the rest of Africa, should be put in this precarious position.
Should UCT implement a vaccine mandate on its staff and students, Children’s Health Defense Africa will meet this with a robust and fully funded legal challenge, and rightly so. Anyone as equally outraged by this human rights violation can comment about UCT’s draft vaccine mandate policy on the Dear South Africa website. Comments need to be submitted by 31 January. UCT will be required to read these prior to implementing their mandate, if at all.
A university, and indeed a society, which sacrifices the wellbeing and possibly the lives of the young to ‘save’ older adults, is a barbaric one.
Article by Karen H
