S. African Use of Subsidies as Lever on Campus Unrest Voided by Court

The government suffered a setback on Friday in its bid to suppress campus unrest in South Africa.

The Cape Town Supreme Court threw out regulations requiring university authorities to enforce strict campus discipline or risk losing state subsidies on which many of them rely heavily.

The regulations, much criticized by university staff and students after they were announced last October, applied to all universities but appeared to be aimed at two campuses in particular, the University of Cape Town and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

There were student protests at both universities last year against apartheid racial segregation laws, which leave the nation’s black majority without political power. Police using tear gas and whips dispersed the demonstrators.

Friday’s court ruling was on a challenge by the University of Cape Town and the University of Western Cape, which said the government had acted beyond its powers.

Government Could Appeal

The Cape Town Supreme Court gave no immediate reasons for its decision, which the government can challenge in a higher court. There was no immediate word on whether the government will appeal.

Some South African universities depend almost exclusively on government subsidies, and several objected to the government’s using the funds as a stick to suppress student protest.

But many South Africans, judging from letters published in newspapers, agreed with the government that taxpayers’ money should not be spent on campuses disrupted by activists.

Meanwhile, a top education official said Friday that the government plans to give blacks more freedom in planning their schools’ curricula as part of a “people’s education” philosophy advocated by opponents of apartheid.

Gerritt Viljoen, minister of education and development aid, emphasized at a briefing that the initiative would be limited and that “politically aggressive” material is unlikely to be allowed in course material.

Blacks May Plan Courses

However, Viljoen said his department is prepared to break new ground by permitting black communities to fashion much of their local schools’ courses and allow a broader range of views to be reflected in history and literature classes.

Viljoen, the Cabinet minister in charge of black schools, praised the “positive aspects” of the “people’s education” philosophy advocated by apartheid opponents.