Ashleigh Schultz has been a name on many people’s lips these past few weeks, the (former?) waitress receiving close to R150 000 after being snubbed by #RhodesMustFall activist and Oxford masters student Ntokozo Qwabe.
As is usually the case with stories like this people did some digging, and it turns out Ashleigh’s mother isn’t exactly the poster woman for the “Rainbow Nation”.
You can see that story HERE, you may need to play catch up.
Now Cheryl Grundlingh has spoken to the Sunday Times about the incident and the ensuing media frenzy, and it turns out she isn’t in a repentant mood.
First up is Ashleigh though:
“But I think Oxford should discipline him”…
“Revoking his scholarship is not going to help. But I do think the university should have a word with him. Oxford isn’t a place where racists from South Africa are fit to go. It’s a privilege to be there. He is far more privileged than me. He’s at Oxford and I can’t afford to study and then I get harassed. But he doesn’t deserve to lose everything for … for being a little bit of an idiot”…
By her own admission, Schultz has little clue what the #RhodesMustFall movement is about. “It’s something about complaining about Rhodes’s statue …”
She also confesses she’s politically naive even though she has been living and working in a university neighbourhood.
“I support the DA, but I’m not big on politics at all,” she said…
Schultz said she cried what Qwabe called “white tears” because his behaviour was the last straw.
“I was down to my last R10, I had to move out of my place because I hadn’t earned enough to cover even half my rent and I had nowhere to stay. My mom was having chemo and is struggling financially. The incident was just the last straw. It was already beyond freak-out.”
Then Ashleigh addressing her mom’s dodgy (racist) Facebook posts:
“My family is white and Afrikaans but I wasn’t raised as a racist. I’ve been to mixed schools and my best friend is black. I’ve never been racist and my mom is not racist. She works with black and coloured nurses who are her family. They ferry her around and make sure she is okay.”
Let’s hear from Cheryl herself then:
Grundlingh says she is unfazed by the criticism she received on social media this week for commenting on a Facebook post featuring apartheid prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd.
The post featured a picture of an empty and orderly street, captioned “South Africa when whites ruled”, and a picture of a riot captioned “South Africa now under black rule”. It also contrasted the number of murders during apartheid with the number now.
“Picture says a lot,” wrote Grundlingh.
On Saturday she told the Sunday Times: “I actually don’t remember this one … I don’t even know who that [Verwoerd] is …
“Who started all this stuff? I think it was the British … I don’t know. I’m not saying here I support apartheid. It was horrible. Even as a child I was like, ‘If I was black I’d fight more than you guys.’
“Why did I share that? Maybe I was feeling angry that day. There’s been so much in the news lately, and I just feel that us whites are getting a hard deal.
“I wouldn’t say I’m not racist. Like I said to Ash yesterday, you’re an idiot not because you’re black or white but because you’re just an idiot.
“When Ash closed her Facebook I thought about closing mine. But I actually don’t care. I’m dying in any case. Hate me if you want.”
There you have it really, Cheryl doesn’t care what you think of her.
All things considered that’s probably a wise move…
[source:sundaytimes]
