SWAZI VARSITY DISOWNS HIV BIGOT

The University of Swaziland (UNISWA) has disowned its own lecturer who said that people who are HIV positive should be branded on their bodies so that other people could identify them.

There was an outcry of condemnation after Dr Eliot Tofa, made his comments in the Swazi Observer.

Now the university has publicly disowned Tofa. In an advertisement carried in both the Times of Swaziland and the Swazi Observer (both 30 May 2008), UNISWA says it ‘would like to disassociate itself from the statements and articles written by one of its employees, Dr E. Tofa, which appeared in one of the local dailies last week. The views expressed in the said article were personal and do not reflect those of the university.

‘However, the university subscribes to the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression.’

The move by the university is probably unprecedented. I cannot remember anything remotely similar happening.

It is not clear who at the university made this decision. The advertisement is signed by the UNISWA acting registrar, but to my knowledge neither the university senate nor Tofa’s faculty have discussed the matter (I am a member of both boards).

The university joins a number of people and organisations that have condemned Tofa. In a poll published in the Observer, 99 per cent of those who took part said Tofa was wrong.

I am absolutely certain that we should condemn Tofa, but I am less sure that the university should. The statement that the university ‘subscribes to the principle of academic freedom’ rings a bit hollow. Perhaps, UNISWA should support both the principle and practice of academic freedom and use facts and debate to argue against Tofa and not to simply ‘disassociate’ itself from him.

See also
SWAZI HIV BRANDING ROW GOES ON