The aim of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was to represent the interests of all South African students nationally and internationally. The challenge then to the liberal NUSAS leadership was how to meet the demands of black students for a politically relevant policy while simultaneously retaining the loyalty of its white middle class and often conservative membership. In 1957, the black University College of Fort Hare returned to NUSAS to participate in the national union’s campaign against the imposition of apartheid on the universities. Consequently, NUSAS adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the foundation of its policy. Sharpeville and the increasing number of black students associated with NUSAS contributed to the further politicisation and leftward movement of the national union. The emergence of two new exclusively African student organisations together with the decision of a student seminar in Dar es Salaam that NUSAS be barred from all international student forums as its demographics precluded it from representing the aspirations of the black majority was the pretext for a far-reaching interrogation of NUSAS’s structure and functioning. Henceforward NUSAS would play a ‘radical role’ in society. This played into the hands of the government and its proxies, the new conservative students associations which sought to slice away NUSAS’s moderate to conservative white membership. The arrest of current and former NUSAS officers implicated in sabotage provided more grist to the right wing mill. In an attempt to manage this most serious crisis, as well as to continue functioning in the increasingly authoritarian and almost wholly segregated milieu of the mid-1960s, NUSAS abandoned its ‘radical role’ and increasingly focussed on university and educational matters. Nonetheless, the state intensified its campaign to weaken NUSAS. By means of legislation, the utilisation of conservative student structures and the intimidation of university authorities, the government attempted to ensure that segregation was applied at all NUSAS-affiliated universities. It was the application of segregation by cowed university authorities that precipitated the New Left-inspired student protests at NUSAS-affiliated campuses in the late 1960s as well as the establishment of the separate black South African Students Organisation, the latter leading to the exodus of all black students from NUSAS. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

The aim of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was to represent the interests of all South African students nationally and internationally. The challenge then to the liberal NUSAS leadership was how to meet the demands of black students for a politically relevant policy while simultaneously retaining the loyalty of its white middle class and often conservative membership. In 1957, the black University College of Fort Hare returned to NUSAS to participate in the national union’s campaign against the imposition of apartheid on the universities. Consequently, NUSAS adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the foundation of its policy. Sharpeville and the increasing number of black students associated with NUSAS contributed to the further politicisation and leftward movement of the national union. The emergence of two new exclusively African student organisations together with the decision of a student seminar in Dar es Salaam that NUSAS be barred from all international student forums as its demographics precluded it from representing the aspirations of the black majority was the pretext for a far-reaching interrogation of NUSAS’s structure and functioning. Henceforward NUSAS would play a ‘radical role’ in society. This played into the hands of the government and its proxies, the new conservative students associations which sought to slice away NUSAS’s moderate to conservative white membership. The arrest of current and former NUSAS officers implicated in sabotage provided more grist to the right wing mill. In an attempt to manage this most serious crisis, as well as to continue functioning in the increasingly authoritarian and almost wholly segregated milieu of the mid-1960s, NUSAS abandoned its ‘radical role’ and increasingly focussed on university and educational matters. Nonetheless, the state intensified its campaign to weaken NUSAS. By means of legislation, the utilisation of conservative student structures and the intimidation of university authorities, the government attempted to ensure that segregation was applied at all NUSAS-affiliated universities. It was the application of segregation by cowed university authorities that precipitated the New Left-inspired student protests at NUSAS-affiliated campuses in the late 1960s as well as the establishment of the separate black South African Students Organisation, the latter leading to the exodus of all black students from NUSAS. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

Text in English / This dissertation has examined the University Christian Movement (UCM) over its turbulent five year history from 1967 to 1972 in terms of the original hopes of the sponsoring ecumenical denominations. Contextual factors within the socio-political arena of South Africa as well as broader youth cultural influences are shown to have had a decisive influence. These factors help to explain the negative reaction from the founding churches. While this is not a thesis on Black Consciousness, nevertheless the contribution of the UCM to the rise of Black Consciousness and Black Theology is evaluated. UCM is shown to be a movement well ahead of its time as a forerunner in South Africa of Black Theology, contextual theology, feminism, modem liturgical styles, and intercommunion. As such it was held in suspicion. It suffered repressive action from the government and alienation from the churches. Constant cross referencing to other organisations such as the World Student Christian Federation, the National Union of South African Students, the South African Council of Churches, the Christian Institute, and the Sllldents Christian Association, helps to locate the UCM within the flow of contemporary history. The concluding evaluation differs markedly from the report of the Schlebusch Commission by making both critical and positive judgement from the perspective of the UCM as an ecumenical mission to students. / Christain Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Text in English / This dissertation has examined the University Christian Movement (UCM) over its turbulent five year history from 1967 to 1972 in terms of the original hopes of the sponsoring ecumenical denominations. Contextual factors within the socio-political arena of South Africa as well as broader youth cultural influences are shown to have had a decisive influence. These factors help to explain the negative reaction from the founding churches. While this is not a thesis on Black Consciousness, nevertheless the contribution of the UCM to the rise of Black Consciousness and Black Theology is evaluated. UCM is shown to be a movement well ahead of its time as a forerunner in South Africa of Black Theology, contextual theology, feminism, modem liturgical styles, and intercommunion. As such it was held in suspicion. It suffered repressive action from the government and alienation from the churches. Constant cross referencing to other organisations such as the World Student Christian Federation, the National Union of South African Students, the South African Council of Churches, the Christian Institute, and the Sllldents Christian Association, helps to locate the UCM within the flow of contemporary history. The concluding evaluation differs markedly from the report of the Schlebusch Commission by making both critical and positive judgement from the perspective of the UCM as an ecumenical mission to students. / Christain Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)