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articles from 2001

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Potch University bans Aids show

– Antoinette Pienaar, Beeld, 6 March 2001

Potchefstroom — Pieter-Dirk Uys's controversial Aids education show has been banned from the campus of Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education.The explicit — but for most people, very funny and educational Uys show — is, according to Professor Madoda Zibi, vice-rector of development and chairman of the university's Aids committee, "unscientific". Professor Carools Reinecke, the university's rector, also "rejected" the show.

Dr Elmarie Claassens, a clinical psychologist and the organiser of the show, said in a letter to the university's forum for transformation: "Unfortunately Mrs Mada Watson [co-ordinator of the Aids committee] informed me that the rector has rejected such a performance by Pieter-Dirk Uys, and to be more specific, no money has been made available, and the performance may not be held on campus."

She wrote further: "The reality is that students are sexually active anyway, and Aids is a real problem on our campus, which makes the prohibition of a show such Uys's regrettable."

Unhappiness Amongst Students

She added that there was much unhappiness amongst the students that the show could not be held on campus.

University spokesperson Frikkie Kotze denied that the show had been "banned". He said the auditorium where the organiser wanted to hold the show could not be used because of a graduation ceremony.

Regarding allegations that the distribution of free condoms on the campus was prohibited, Kotze said that the university had a clear Christian foundation.

"Within the Christian value system, the integrity of marriage is regarded as a fundamental value and is lived out by the large majority of its personnel and students. By distributing condoms in an uncontrolled manner, sexual intercourse outside of marriage is, by implication, condoned."

Aids 'A Virus For All Seasons'

Claassens said on Tuesday that the show would now be held in the city council's banquet hall in town on Thursday night. "I just decided that I wasn't going to beg and fight."

Uys's view regarding the whole debacle is: "They are going to have a lot more funerals if they don't wake up". The show has been banned already, particularly in Afrikaans schools. Uys said previously that he attributed this to "Broederbond-like and Calvinistic thinking".

"The Calvinists amongst us are apparently not prepared to believe that their children could also harbour amorous thoughts. Afrikaners clearly don't realise that Aids is a monster that can hit anyone. It's a love bug which doesn't care if you are white or black or a moffie, it's a virus for all seasons."

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