The lecturer is accused of referring to white people as "land thieves" and coloured and Indian people as "deputy whites". AfriForum Youth spokesperson Rene van der Vyver said: "His divisive rhetoric appeared to be aimed at stoking the fires of racial division and hostility." Mzileni said those who accused him of referring to coloured and Indian South Africans as "deputy whites" were twisting his words because they were opposed to his teachings on decoloniality. He said he had appeared before a UFS investigating committee on September 14 after 'His divisive rhetoric appeared to be aimed at stoking the fires of racial division and hostility' the university received correspondence on the matter. At the hearing, the final report on which "should be made available to UFS any day now", Mzileni said he had told the university's attorneys the allegations were not true. "I did not make such remarks. In fact, the people who have been following my teaching, research, engagement and activism life for the past 10 years would know that I generally do not even speak or write like that, "I further showed the investigating team the actual lecture slides I used at this guest lecture ... my teaching notes and my published writings." Mzileni said there was an effort to target him as a scholar. "This effort is also being creatively applied through the distortion of the words and sentences I use in my teaching engagements in order to illegitimise me personally as a scholar and to illegitimise and silence the teaching of decolonisation, history and sociology disciplines. "More than anything else, I remain committed to the ethical teaching, research and engagement on decolonisation "I teach my students these things because I love all of them in their different races and nationalities, and I want them to grow up to become resilient and knowledgeable adult citizens who will make productive contributions to the growth and development of this country," Mzileni said in relation to universities having a duty to uncover the truth, however painful it may be, through rigorous debate.

Source: TimesLIVE