Why Prof Jansen is correct in forgiving the Reitz Four

South Africa continues to look for lightning rods for its national collective zeitgeist, laden with its unhappiness, anger and the stresses of change, so that it can be unleashed like a three pm Johannesburg summer thunderstorm bolt of lightning. So it really shouldn't surprise anyone that Prof Jansen, the Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State, has confronted the acceptable narrative of punishment and retribution by offering forgiveness to the Reitz Four, and is now paying the personal and political price for his actions.



That the making of the Reitz hostel video was despicable is not even up for debate. That it symbolized the worst of our country's chauvinist white male culture, prolific in institutions across the language and class spectrum (from waspy boarding schools to working class army barracks) is not up for debate. That it is symbolic of the transformation challenges in South African higher education, is a given.



That it goes against our state sanctioned national meta-narrative is not up for debate either, unfortunately. And it is this fact which has caused the backlash and outcry which has exploded in Prof Jansen's lap. Forgiveness has never been popular, particularly when it is costly and requires us to review our own agendas, and perhaps to change our own hearts.



Prof Jansen has challenged the national meta-narrative, that unconcious story running in our collective head, which tells us that it is more than fair to punish transgressors of the race equation. This state sanctioned mythology is close to a Caesarean myth, and Prof Jansen has dared challenge it. I don't profess to know the man, but the comments I've read indicate a deep sense of self awareness, and a self-professed brokenness with the resultant response of 'communing with the Divine'. Sounds like he has wrestled with his own demons before...



Good for you. Prof Jansen! Putting things to rights requires sacrifice, especially when you counter Caesar's narratives. Forgiveness is costly.  I stand by you.