So will Oxford kick out the black racist who made a white waitress cry as nearly 50,000 people sign a petition to expel him?

More than most, Ntokozo Qwabe would have been justified in raising a glass to his good fortune as he dined at a fashionable Cape Town café in the shadow of Table Mountain last week.

One of 13 children born to the two wives of his polygamous Zulu father, Ntokozo grew up in an
impoverished rural part of South Africa, where he played football barefoot in fields and herded cattle.

His father worked as a school caretaker, earning less than £4 a day.
From such unpromising beginnings, this young man rose to the rank of Oxford scholar, obtaining a law degree from the renowned university, and could well have expected to be revered as a role model.

Events, however, have unfolded somewhat differently. For, as we shall see, his visit to the café last week has ignited an international race row — centring, somewhat ludicrously, on his actions towards one unlucky white waitress, who was reduced to tears.

Undoubtedly, Qwabe’s early life was one of hardship. But, through a combination of talent and hard work (not to mention bursaries from the government), he won a place at the University of Cape Town.

Then, in 2014, he hit the jackpot with a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, following in the footsteps of the likes of Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president.

As well as the opportunity to study at Oxford, Qwabe’s accommodation and other expenses — including return flights to South Africa — were all paid by the scholarship, including a staggering ‘stipend’ of some £13,000.

The scholarship — which was set up following the death in 1902 of Cecil Rhodes, the British-born mining magnate and African colonialist — requires that, as well as academic excellence, those accepted should exhibit ‘sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and an interest in one’s fellow beings’.

The South African, now 24, graduated last year at a ceremony attended by his mother.

‘It was her (his mother’s) first time on an aeroplane,’ Qwabe told one interviewer, describing his joy that he could share the ‘precious moment’ with his mother.

On his return to South Africa last year, he was treated as a celebrity, a rags-to-riches hero who proved black skin is no impediment to advancement.

At a reception held for him by powerful South African dignitaries, he spoke of his desire to ‘give back’.
source mailonline