Universities as sites of struggle for South Africa’s promise

Manuel Castells, one of the leading social scientists of our time, asserts that throughout history universities have frequently played critical roles in the social transformation of societies, in addition to their traditional role of knowledge production and the training of a skilled national labour force. He further notes that they also play an important role in the building of new institutions of civil society, especially in encouraging and facilitating new cultural values.

Social transformation lies at the heart of conceptions of social change. It implies at the very least some fundamental changes in societies core institutions such as polity and economy with major implications for relations between social groups or classes and for the means of the creation and distribution of wealth, power and status.

In recent weeks, some university campuses in South Africa have become the sites of socio-political conflict and contestation. In particular at the University of Cape Town and at Rhodes University, students are demanding that educational transformation, as promised by the Freedom Charter and the relatively new democracy in South Africa is taken seriously. In essence, students at these two higher education institutions, weary of false and lingering promises have taken the transformation agenda of their respective universities into their own hands. They have confronted university authorities head on in terms of the persisting structural and social legacies of colonialism and apartheid and have in the process created a new terrain for social transformation. They are in effect challenging apartheid-based ideologues and agencies and demanding new legacies and visions as promised in our relatively new Constitution.

To what extent then are the keen perceptions and assertions of Manuel Castells, especially in terms of the historical role of universities in the social transformation of societies pertinent to the South African scenario?

It is the considered opinion of the authors that the recent prophetic utterings of Xolela Mangcu (University World News Global Edition Issue 361, 2015:04:03) cogently summarises the effects of the recent uprising of students at the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University as an ‘early warning of racial civil war’. Students at these institutions are not only amplifying the issue of racial exclusion, but also the racial division which mediates their everyday lives. The university has for all intentions and purposes become an extension of racial prejudice and injustice which they experience in their daily real life situations.

UNIVERSITIES: MICROCOSMS OF SOCIETY

In South Africa, higher education institutions are microcosms of society. Students often reflect on campus what is going on society. However, the opposite is also true. The campus is also a safe counter-cultural space for change and innovation for young people to experiment with new ideas and be exposed to new ways of doing things, including shaping society. In this situation students are informed about the theoretical explanations of the dynamics of society and simultaneously they feel obliged to connect their intellectual work to the real world and this process marks a historical convergence of institutional and societal issues and crises.

In effect, universities are places where ideas and what is going in society evokes and provokes our students around ideas and causes and provides them with an intellectual and social platform and space for engagement on critical issues. In this respect, the legacies of the narrative relating to colonialism and apartheid have also helped to shape the recent events around the protests related to statues and names of institutions and buildings.

It therefore can be argued that the events of recent times raise larger issues about the extent to which our university leadership, academics and student bodies are willing and equipped to engage on issues of transformation. The events that have occurred of late at South African universities are symptomatic of a wider social malaise, political incompetence, of incomplete reconciliation and restorative post-apartheid justice.

It is important to address the underlying causes of what is going on society. In this regard, universities and higher education institutions have a critical role to play in the transformation of society at large. As national assets and repositories of intellectual and social capital, universities are obliged to fill this space and provide leadership.

PLATFORMS FOR A TRANSFORMATORY DISCOURSE AND ACTION

The resulting institutional schizophrenia which has seeped into our university campuses requires an intellectual discourse and practice on the part of managers, academics and students and workers. Academics and students need to demonstrate the relevancy of their intellectual endeavours, especially in terms of repairing the wounds of apartheid and colonial legacies in the fabric of their academic and research pursuits. This would require the linkage of academic work to problems and challenges within the public arena. For most scholars, this would require them to connect their work to the real world, particularly in terms of finding more practical applications for both their research activities and their classroom teaching, thus marking a convergence of institutional and societal crises.

Such a framework for academic and intellectual activity offers some opportunity for understanding what is at the root of the institutional crisis itself and how a academic disciplinary practices might direct scholars towards more effective analyses of and actions within their own institutions as well as outside in the larger social world .

Within this context, universities, besides offering qualifications and conducting research can fundamentally become agencies for social change and transformation where ideas should be considered and equally contested. Universities have the potential to be incubators of social change. However, problems arise when students are unable to meaningfully channel their critical questions or frustrations, and it is well known that there are plenty of them. The majority of university administrators and academics are often too busy or uninterested to be concerned about what happens in what is called the ‘second curriculum’, that is, what happens outside the lecture room on campus.

CONTEXTUALISING IMAGERY AND RECENT CAMPUS CONTESTATIONS

The defacing of Rhodes statue and its ultimate removal from the University of Cape Town and other similar copycat acts on statues relating to our colonial and apartheid history clearly signifies that fact that black students can no longer tolerate the intransigence on the part of university authorities towards national attempts for transformation on our campuses.

These acts demonstrate the importance of political and civil activism, as well as the efforts of indigent students to assert their own visions and values which mirror critical issues such as basic human rights. A history of class struggles clearly indicates that the resentment of the oppressor provides common ground for mobilising lower-class groups and defining the agenda for political contestation. Critical analyses of class struggles also clarify how the lower class’s assertiveness in a society sharply divided by race and class has always frightened various elite groups into embracing both exclusionary discourses on race and the need for authoritarian institutions. In some South African universities which have not been able to throw off the shackles of the colonial and apartheid legacy, this development has proved to be an enduring pain for black and indigent students in our country.

In a sense, black students at the University of Cape Town have become the vanguard of the struggles of indigent and marginalised students in South Africa. These are students whose daily lives are mediated by a socially unequal economy on the one hand and on the other by tertiary institutions which practice exclusionary policies. On a small scale the recent events which have militated for transformation are just further examples of a continuing crisis in the function and functioning of some of our universities. In short, these universities are under attack for losing their social identity, responsibility and purpose. They have become ivory towers isolated from the sad truths of a country in which they are located.

UNIVERSITIES: THE TIME FOR TRUE LEADERSHIP IS UPON US

Finally, it can be argued that the recent events raise larger issues about the extent to which our university leadership, academics and student bodies are willing and equipped to engage on these matters. The events that have occurred of late In South Africa are symptomatic of a wider social malaise, political incompetence, of incomplete reconciliation and restorative post-apartheid justice. It is important to address the underlying causes of what is going on society. In this regard, universities and higher education institutions have a critical role to play. As national assets and repositories of intellectual and social capital, universities are obliged to fill this space and provide leadership.

Statues and monuments can be relocated to ‘memorial parks’, but we must confront the reality of our history in the knowledge that unless we validate the human dignity of each of our citizens as in our Bill of Rights and acknowledge the facts of history and their interpretation we will be unable to ensure social cohesion, social inclusion and justice for all.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ahmed Shaikh is a senior Faculty and the CEO of REGENT Business School
Anis Karodia is senior Faculty and Director of the Centre of Health Care Management at REGENT Business School
Joseph David is senior Faculty and Director of the Centre for Public Sector Management at REGENT Business School
Dhiru Soni is a researcher and consultant to the higher education sector

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