‘Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford’ campaign leader has also been blocked from using Facebook
The outspoken law student famed for his involvement in the ‘Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford’ movement claims he’s experienced “a flow of death threats” after he bragged on Facebook about making a South African waitress cry “typical white tears”.
Ntokozo Qwabe, who is studying the renowned Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) course at the elite university, says he has been called a “racist”, a “criminal”, a “bully” and a “dick” since he reportedly told an unsuspecting white waitress in South Africa that he would only give her a tip if she returned the land.
An intense media furore followed after Qwabe boasted about the incident — nicknamed ‘tipgate’ — online. And so too, according to the political activist, did a “flow of death threats and safety hazards directed at violating my bodily integrity”. These were so bad Qwabe was “summoned” to meet with the Senior Dean at his college to discuss his “health and safety within the college, and Oxford more generally”.
The official statement revealed by Qwabe also includes the shocking claim that the University of KwaZulu-Natal graduate has been blocked from using Facebook, the forum he used to brag about tipgate, by the website itself. He explained:
One [of my Facebook accounts] has now been permanently (and illegally) disabled by Facebook without reason, while the other one (opened thereafter) continues to be reported and blocked. I am currently banned for seven days as I write this. The censorship has been as alarming.
Qwabe — who famously campaigned for a statue of Cecil Rhodes to be removed from Oxford’s Oriel College, despite accepting a scholarship in the name of the top imperialist — also alleges that the waitress caught up in the tipgate scandal “did NOT cry”, that the act was in no way racist, and that he is not racist because some of his best friends are white.
The South African born student also used his revealing — and very long — statement to dismiss media claims that he is sympathetic to ISIL. He states that the Sunday Times and “other British media outlets” have attempted to align him with the terrorist group, because he refused to change his Facebook profile picture to the French flag following last year’s attacks in Paris. He explained:
In actual reality however, it was less an expression of solidarity with ISIL that drove me to my position, but more the global buffoonery of using a symbol of historical French imperial and colonial terrorism and genocide to express an anti-terrorist position. I still stand by that sentiment.
The statement ends with a note to the media that he will not be engaging in any interview requests about the tipgate scandal. Or, he says, maybe he will:
but only when we have the land back.