On the 17th of May 2021 the students and staff of Stellenbosch University received an email from the chairperson of the Institutional Committee for Business Continuity in response to the current developments in the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The email firstly acknowledges that we are fast approaching the third wave of coronavirus infections. It further provides us with the statistics and I quote "By 12 May, the Western Cape had seen a 35% increase in new cases of COVID-19 infections compared to the previous seven-day period. In the Cape Winelands, this figure was 40%, and in Stellenbosch specifically, the increase was 80%.".

It further says that this is the time that we should protect ourselves by wearing masks and avoid crowded spaces, maintain safe physical distance from others and wash our hands regularly. As stated by the ICBC "Prof Pulliam highlighted another aspect that is extremely worrying – the age distribution of new cases in Stellenbosch. “Towards the end of the previous wave, the cases were very much clustered within the older age groups (25–55 years). Now, the younger age groups are starting to pop (15–25),” she warned." Saying that crowded spaces should be avoided is not practical in its own sense. Firstly the Neelsie is a super spreader on its own as many students use the space during lunch time. Secondly no social distancing is maintained when students have to go write exams in venues on campus. For instance the tests that were taking place on the 11th of May 2021 at 17:30 in the Jan Mouton building were not carefully thought out. Many of the students that were there can attest that the building was over crowded from the outside students waiting to get inside the building. The line was so long that they just disregarded the health check and let students in so that they could start on time. 

From the email we received it is evident that the university is maintaining its culture of "Business as usual" even though the numbers are worrying. We have students who stay at home with their grandparents and we have seen the devastating effects of Covid-19 to those that over he age of 65 years. It does not care about the health of its students and staff. The university even went as far as asking students and staff members to consult their medical aid schemes and encouraged students to register on the national system as soon as they can, not considering the fact that many don't have medical aid schemes to consult and that the country is currently in phase two of vaccination rollout, meaning that they are only prioritizing the elderly and health care workers. Does it have to take people dying in order to understand the damage that could be caused if there could be a an outbreak on our campus? 

The university is more than capable of suspending all campus activities and moving back to online line learning. We are not asking to stop classes or exams, all we are asking for is that we have all academic activities to be moved to fully online to save the lives of those around us.

We plead with the community at large to help us, the students and staff of Stellenbosch University by signing this petition, to help us get through to the university management to see the urgency of moving back to online learning and preventing the increase in Covid-19 cases.