AfriForum Youth is considering legal action against the University of Pretoria (UP) after the youth organisation was threatened with violence while they were busy painting an advertisement on UP's graffiti wall on main campus in the evening of 22 August.

'We gathered at the graffiti wall at 19:00 to paint a white background and our emblem on the wall,' said Nikke Strydom, Branch President of AfriForum Youth at UP. 'We were the third group who painted the wall that day and campus security was aware of our presence.'

Apparently, when the AfriForum name apperaed on the wall, security officers ordered them to stop painting and to remove their name from the wall. Campus security said that AfriForum Youth should have obtained permission to paint on the wall.

Charl Oberholzer, National Chairperson of AfriForum Youth and chairperson of UP's Student Representative Council (SRC), called the Dean of Students, Prof. McGlory Speckman. 'Prof. Speckman said the he was aware that we could paint on the wall, but that he was not willing to say that to campus security,' said Oberholzer.

The graffiti wall is there for all students and permission to paint on it has never been needed before. 'Only messages that amount to discrimination and hate speech may be removed from the wall,' said Strydom.

The AfriForum Youth members informed campus security that they would only finish painting the emblem and not include the wording they planned for the advertisement. They promised security that they would get a letter of authorisation from the Daaen of Students the next day. 'After we informed the security officer at the wall of our plans, we heard a senoir security officer shouting over the radio that he must use force against us. Because most of us were girls we left the campus immediately for fear of our safety,' Strydom said.

After the students had left campus, security painted over the unfinished advertisement.

'Our members felt intimidated and we regard our campus security's actions as a gross violation of our right to equality, freedom of expression and a safe environment. As a student organisation that stand up for students' rights, we will take legal action against UP in this regard,' added Strydom.

Prof. Speckman could not be reached for comment.