Cape Town — Racism and sexism remain widespread at South African universities, despite many policies aimed at redressing the bitter legacy of apartheid, according to a new report commissioned by the South African government in the wake of an international uproar over a racist video made last year by four white students at the University of the Free State.

The report has yet to be published, but an advance copy was provided last week to the Mail and Guardian, a newspaper.

“It is clear… that discrimination, in particular with regard to racism and sexism, is pervasive in our institutions,” says the report’s executive summary, which was published on the Mail and Guardian’s Web site.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including that the Department of Education set up a watchdog to oversee racial transformation at universities; that universities be required to draft their own transformation charters; and that the department be given the power to use government funds and subsidies to “reward” or “sanction” institutions for their progress, or lack thereof. —Megan Lindow