Duncan InnesRaphie KaplinskyPhilip van der MerweTony Shapiro John VorsterJan de Klerk Incidents The Mafeje affair[1] refers to anti-government protests by South African students in 1968 in response to a decision of the council of the University of Cape Town (UCT) to rescind anthropologist Archie Mafeje's job offer for a senior lecturer position due to pressure from the South African apartheid government.

Archie Mafeje (1936–2007) enrolled at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1957, joining a minority of less than twenty non-white students on a campus of five thousand.

[10][11] The Minister of National Education, Senator Jan de Klerk, told UCT Council about the[11][12]government's intense displeasure at the decision to appoint an African, which is tantamount to flouting the accepted traditional outlook of South Africa.

[25] Prime Minister John Vorster attitude toward the sit-in was on display during his speech for the Nationalist Party meeting in Holborn where he warned universities to put their own houses in order otherwise he “will do it thoroughly".

He continued, "suppose I had been allowed to join the faculty of Cape Town University would they have protested against the fact that I would be forced to live off the campus?

[27] While the sit-in was on its way, Mafeje applied to other jobs at universities in Tanzania, Zambia, and Uganda, stating that he "can't fight the Vorster regime".

[28] Sir Richard has heard our clarion call And soon will be joining us at Bremner Hall, He's leaving Sydney by an early flight And we hope to see him by Friday night.

Dear Sir Richard, you are probably aware We were frightened yesterday by a petrol-bomb scare, But we feel pretty safe from such disasters Since Vorster rounded up the pylon-blasters Follow the example of Mr. Clive Corder Who rushed straight here from across the border; 216 members of the staff and 10 professors at UCT supported the sit-in.

Lectures from across UCT signed three petitions expressing support for the students action and called on the council to appoint Mafeje.

[29] Support in South Africa came from Helen Suzman, founder of the Progressive Party, and University Christian Movement,[24][33] and internationally from the Guardian[34] and Newsweek.

[39] However, on 19 August, Vorster successfully intervened against the University of Witwatersrand's sympathy march even after Johannesburg's City Council approval.

[43] Paul Reuvers and Alant McKenzie, two University of Witwatersrand students, were splashed with paint while participating in the picket demonstration in Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg.

[39] On 22 August night, Police and security guards with dogs intervened when the counter-protester started throwing fruit, eggs and stones that knocked out one student and shattered the doors' glass.

[50][51] Later, a large crowd of counter-protesters, estimated at 1,000 including Maties, began to move towards the Bremner building main entrance.

One student managed to scale the balcony rail of the Senate Room and tear down a protest banner while the counter demonstrators were waiting for a half-hour.

The crowd began to withdraw while shouting "bangbroeke" (Afrikaans for "scarepants") and "If you are not out tomorrow we'll come back and make a job of it".

[17][55] Following the end of the sit-in, Maurice Pope, head of the classic department for 12 years and former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, resigned and left South Africa in protest.

[note 1] Police officers questioned the Rhodes University Student Union's president, who was later informed that his citizenship had been revoked.

[62] Prime Minister John Vorster warned that next time he would "send his boys," and introduced a legislation to allow racially-exclusive organisations to operate in the English-language universities.

[65] On 28 August, more than 400 student at University of Fort Hare organised a sit-in before the administration building to protest the appointment of Johannes Christiaan de Wet as rector.

[note 2][14] In 1994, Mafeje applied for the A.C. Jordan Chair in African Studies at UCT, but his application was rejected as he was deemed "unsuitable for the position".

[74] In a citation, emeritus professor Francis Wilson wrote:[75] This then is the man, armed with a Cambridge PhD and a classic published urban study, whose appointment as a senior lecturer was rescinded by the university Council after pressure from the apartheid government in 1968.

This is also the man for whom in the early 1990s we (and I include myself) at UCT all failed to provide the appropriate space to enable him to come home to teach and write as he so badly wanted to do.Mafeje's family accepted the apology.