News24 | Wilgenhof scandal an 'intergenerational tradition that needs to be investigated' - Verwoerd

Dr Wilhelm Verwoerd and moderator, Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela. (Tammy Petersen/News24)

The defensiveness and justification surrounding the Wilgenhof residence following the public fury of its practices, reminds social activist Wilhelm Verwoerd of a phrase he became familiar with during his research years with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – "a magnitude gap".

"[It's] how when people are implicated or complicit or involved in wrongdoing, there's a strong temptation to focus on intention, on what we're hoping to achieve, not actually face the consequences and take responsibility for those consequences," said Verwoerd, a former Wilgenhoffer and senior researcher at Stellenbosch University's Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest.

This "very serious" magnitude gap is being exacerbated by this self-protectiveness, he explained to his audience during a dialogue aimed at cultivating critical conversations and reflection on the recent scandal at its oldest men's res.

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