tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/rhodes-must-fall-20370/articlesrhodes must fall – The Conversation2020-04-21T14:23:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1365872020-04-21T14:23:46Z2020-04-21T14:23:46ZNumbers can kill: politicians should handle South Africa’s coronavirus data with care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329400/original/file-20200421-82677-1e5mv8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The reporting of South Africa's first COVID-19 case sparked a racialised discourse that persists. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Numbers tell stories. Usually, stories of people – often happy stories, like births, marriages, finishing school, getting a degree, getting a job. Even paying taxes. Sometimes they tell sad stories – death, divorce, disease, liquidations.</p>
<p>Statistics do not provide a cold or inanimate way of dealing with the world – they are one key part of the world, waiting for someone to spin the tale they tell. </p>
<p>At a time of heightened fear such as the world is currently living through, ensuring statistics of death and disease are handled with sensitivity should be self-evident, most particularly to politicians.</p>
<p>It appears not.</p>
<p>No one controls who talks to data once they’re in the public domain. No one stops journalists or students or politicians from analysing official stats as they see fit, thus creating their own narrative. That is why there are clear ethical and legal protocols in place. </p>
<p>The most basic of these is never to release data that may allow respondents to be identified. </p>
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Read more:
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<p>In the case of South Africa this means that, in practice, Statistics South Africa <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/">(Stats SA)</a>, the country’s national statistical service, anonymises data it does release and has legal rules for the “level” at which data can be made available. This refers to both individuals and small, identifiable communities. </p>
<p>This is appropriate. It prevents the potential violation of confidentiality – the ability to point accusatory fingers because you choose to read (or misread, exaggerate, over-state) numbers in a particular way.</p>
<p>But is this basic protocol being adhered to during the COVID-19 pandemic?</p>
<p>Sadly not. An early case in point is the Western Cape, where premier Alan Winde <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/premier-alan-winde-update-coronavirus-covid-19-20-apr-2020-0000">released remarkably detailed figures</a> on the local level sites of COVID-19 infection in the province. </p>
<p>As Winde <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-03-29-western-capes-310-covid-19-cases-broken-down-by-area/">put it</a>, </p>
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<p>Today (March 29) we have started providing sub-district information across the Western Cape, including in the city of Cape Town. The stats show us that this virus is spreading, reaching communities across our province. Each and every one of these cases, from Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to Mossel Bay — is of very serious concern for my government.</p>
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<p>He went on to give detailed data for the Cape. Winde’s example has since been followed by other premiers, mayors and many others. This is not a party political point-scoring piece.</p>
<p>The obvious question is: why tell us, at such granular level? </p>
<p>Winde was no doubt acting from good intentions, one most people would share, which is that the more information people have, the more they may appreciate risk, and the better they may respond to the constraints of the <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-extension-coronavirus-covid-19-lockdown-end-april-9-apr-2020-0000">COVID-19 lockdown</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329476/original/file-20200421-82650-s8n0gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Police monitor compliance with COVID-19 regulations in the Diepsloot informal settlement, Johannesburg.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michele Spatari/AFP/GettyImages</span></span>
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<p>And, quite rightly, he was trying to put out the flames of potential stigma – as every politician subsequently repeats as they intone the nightly death toll. He and others have tried to say the disease knows no race or age or class. It can get anyone. </p>
<p>But the path to hell, as we know, is paved with good intentions.</p>
<h2>The politics of death</h2>
<p>When the first South African COVID-19 infection was reported <a href="https://www.nicd.ac.za/first-case-of-covid-19-coronavirus-reported-in-sa/">on 5 March</a>, almost immediately a video was circulated by some political figures that made it clear this was a rich white problem. Who else visits Italy in March?</p>
<p>It pointed to the immediate racialisation of the first South African infection. This was a disease of white globe-trotters. This was a problem for rich whites, not for “us” (mainly poor black people). It fed on the political discourse that marked the 2019 election – <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-democratic-alliance-plays-populist-immigration-card-105222">“protect our borders”</a> (from “them”), take back “our” land and jobs (from a different “them”). </p>
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<p>The same reaction greeted HIV when it debuted in the 1980s and was written off as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/11/science/new-homosexual-disorder-worries-health-officials.html">gay-related immunodeficiency syndrome</a>. It was a disease of <a href="https://www.news.uct.ac.za/campus/communications/updates/covid-19/-article/2020-03-24-lessons-for-covid-19-from-the-hiv-and-aids-pandemic">“<em>moffies</em>” – a derogatory term used to describe gay people in South Africa</a> – a Western disease, a white disease, and a “them” disease. It was self-evidently not “our” macho, heterosexual problem. Until it was. And then it slaughtered people, and is still doing so. </p>
<p>Have people really learned absolutely nothing?</p>
<p>COVID-19 is everyone’s disease as well, as people are grudgingly accepting. But the race and class profile – of this being a problem for rich white people, that started with South Africa’s infection #1 – created a discourse that has not disappeared. It is fuelled by the country’s existing <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pro-poor-policies-on-their-own-wont-shift-inequality-in-south-africa-117430">racialised inequality</a> and people’s genuine fear of this invisible virus. </p>
<p>The release of data showing that “rich white” suburban parts of Cape Town and Johannesburg are the epicentres in both city and province is problematic. It feeds into and amplifies South Africa’s tendency to default to race, and creates real local divisions that mirror and deepen those already hardcreted into South Africa’s cities by apartheid spatial engineering.</p>
<h2>Controlling the narrative</h2>
<p>But why did stigma exist (and why so early)? </p>
<p>In no small part, because government didn’t control the narrative from day one. As a result, every session now includes the repetition that the virus cares not a jot for race. But, though government spokespeople also reassure South Africans that it doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, a new narrative is taking root, that “the poor” are “the problem” – that enforced proximity coupled with poverty and compromised health means the epicentre will be <a href="https://www.news24.com/Columnists/GuestColumn/opinion-covid-19-people-in-informal-settlements-continue-to-show-great-resilience-20200402">informal settlements</a>. </p>
<p>This is because we are so <a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemic-underscores-gross-inequalities-in-south-africa-and-the-need-to-fix-them-135070">fundamentally unequal</a> that this virus (like HIV before it) is going to disproportionately affect the poor. And the poor are overwhelmingly black. So the prejudice that welcomed COVID has created its own truth.</p>
<p>Statistics do tell stories. But they are understood in different contexts. So while everyone would love to know more about their neighbours – from the census, from COVID-19 data, from income and expenditure surveys, and other official data sources – they can’t. And they should not be able to – that way lies stigmatisation, racist and nationalist narratives, and worse. </p>
<p>In many countries across the world narratives of “our” jobs apparently being “taken” by others are becoming increasingly common in the wake of COVID-19. This, as has been shown in South Africa prior to the pandemic, leads to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/13/south-africa-punish-xenophobic-violence">xenophobic violence and more death</a>, as happened immediately after the 2019 national elections.</p>
<p>Politicians should take heed. Good intentions do not guarantee good outcomes. Stop imagining that granular data helps – it doesn’t. Stick to the protocols – and the law. Statistics South Africa does not release this type of data, precisely to protect people from one another. Leaders need to do the same, or the country may be divided after the COVID-19 crisis than it was before it hit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Everatt is the chairperson of the South African Statistics Council at StatsSA.. </span></em></p>We’d all love to know more about our neighbours – from COVID-19 data, census data and other official data sources – but we shouldn’t.David Everatt, Professor of Urban Governance, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1079082018-12-10T14:19:19Z2018-12-10T14:19:19ZHillary Clinton’s centrist remedy to stop right-wing populists apes their own anti-migration rhetoric<blockquote>
<p>Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message – ‘we are not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support’ – because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic. </p>
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<p>These are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/hillary-clinton-europe-must-curb-immigration-stop-populists-trump-brexit">the words</a> of former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a series of recent interviews conducted by the Guardian newspaper with what it termed “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/clinton-blair-renzi-why-we-lost-populists-how-fight-back-rightwing-populism-centrist">heavyweight centrist</a>” politicians. Clinton was setting out her prescription for how to “stop right-wing populists”. </p>
<p>Her advice, according to the Guardian, focused solely on migration control. Yet this is rather contradictory, since she appears to be calling for precisely the same policy on this issue as the right-wing populists she is trying to stop. </p>
<p>The former UK Independence Party MEP, Nigel Farage, for example, used <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants">Nazi-echoing imagery</a> in his Leave.EU campaign ahead of the UK’s 2016 EU referendum. Matteo Salvini, the Italian deputy prime minister, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/25/matteo-salvini-formally-investigated-over-migrant-ship-standoff">placed under investigation</a> in August for illegal detention and kidnapping after refusing to let a Mediterranean rescue boat carrying over 100 people dock. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has erected a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hungary-refugees-immigration-viktor-orban-racism-border-fence-a8446046.html">four metre-high razor-wire fence</a> along Hungarian borders to keep out what he terms “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugees-muslim-invaders-hungary-viktor-orban-racism-islamophobia-eu-a8149251.html">Muslim invaders</a>”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/open-to-those-who-can-pay-the-hypocrisy-of-how-hungary-treats-asylum-seekers-75333">Open to those who can pay: the hypocrisy of how Hungary treats asylum seekers</a>
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<p>In the UK, the “centre” has chased the right on immigration politics for many years, from the UK Labour Party’s “controls on immigration” campaign <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/28/labour-immigration-mug_n_6961756.html">souvenir mug</a>, to the Conservative Party’s effort to woo voters from UKIP by introducing ever-hardening <a href="https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.com/2014/12/02/whos-being-ignored-when-politicians-claim-they-are-listening-to-concerns-about-immigration/">policies</a> on immigration. In chasing policies they believe to be popular, rather than principled, these mainstream parties that claim the political “centre ground” themselves fit the definition of “populist”. </p>
<h2>Tired of facts</h2>
<p>In <a href="http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=625583;keyword=go%20home">research I conducted with colleagues</a> into the effects of government anti-immigration messaging, we <a href="https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/end-of-project-findings-leaflet-final.pdf">were told</a> by somebody who works in Westminster policy circles that: </p>
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<p>The public are not going to believe any immigration statistics … With
immigration you have every reason to disbelieve data, because the government has told you it’s crap at collecting it.</p>
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<p>The received wisdom among most civil servants, politicians and think tanks was you could never win the electorate round to liking migration with facts. The way to win votes, therefore, was to continue to emphasise how tough a particular politician would be in controlling migration. </p>
<p>This was to be displayed in prominent policies – from more official uniforms for border guards at ports of entry, to more formal checks in everyday life, to publicity campaigns about deportation and removals. The effectiveness of this in terms of either managing migration, or assuaging public fear of migration, was not the point. The focus was on political power. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-populism-and-why-is-it-so-hard-to-define-107457">What is populism – and why is it so hard to define?</a>
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<h2>The right to refuge</h2>
<p>In this light, Clinton’s comment is just more of the same. But her advice to the centrist politicians of Europe, that they should no longer “continue to provide refuge”, was startling. This is different to managing migration. What Clinton is suggesting here is the end of protection under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 UN Refugee Convention</a>. This international law promises that a person with a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion will not be sent back to a country which poses serious threats to their life or freedom. </p>
<p>The Refugee Convention is ratified by 145 states. And though <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/22/un-condemns-australias-forced-return-of-asylum-seeker-to-sri-lanka">some of those signatories do flout it</a> on occasion, it is a profound statement to suggest these protections should be ended. The convention was written to protect refugees in the aftermath of World War II, a war in which, we are told, fascism was defeated. So it’s highly significant that a former US secretary of state should suggest that such an international agreement should be ended as a way of defeating present-day fascism.</p>
<h2>History lessons forgotten</h2>
<p>The problem with Clinton’s message is not only one of opportunist politics, a politics in which the appeal of gaining power for the centre is paramount, even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/23/hillary-clinton-populism-europe-immigration">at the expense of the most marginalised</a>. It is bigger than that – it is an erasure of historical memory. </p>
<p>This is at a moment when the struggle over history and its meaning is alive in many other ways too. Student mobilisations such as the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign which began at the <a href="https://za.boell.org/2018/02/19/rhodesmustfall-it-was-never-just-about-statue">University of Cape Town</a>, South Africa, and moved to <a href="https://rmfoxford.wordpress.com/">the UK</a>, are a case in point. Students calling for statues of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes to be removed from a place of reverence <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/mary-beard-says-drive-to-remove-cecil-rhodes-statue-from-oxford-university-is-a-dangerous-attempt-to-a6783306.html">were accused</a> of wishing to “erase history”. </p>
<p>But what they were actually calling for was <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/12064939/We-dont-want-to-erase-Cecil-Rhodes-from-history.-We-want-everyone-to-know-his-crimes.html">a proper recognition of Rhodes’s history</a>, which was one of systematic, violent exploitation of the people of South Africa on a massive scale. Like many other colonial histories, Rhodes’s brutal legacy is in plain sight, and yet its roots have been forgotten by many. There are many such histories to be reckoned with. </p>
<p>Clinton’s suggestion that Europe end the provision of refuge in order to counter far-right populism asks for a similar erasure of history. Her call both forgets the context in which the UN Convention was created, and <a href="http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol3no2_2004/ahmed_declarations.htm">does the opposite of what it promises</a>. Rather than heading off far-right, anti-migrant rhetoric, it gives this rhetoric legitimacy.</p>
<p>To avoid a yet more brutal future, perhaps the question which Clinton was asked – how to stop right-wing populism – has a more complex answer. Perhaps there is a need to understand, remember, and <a href="https://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/about-us/history-and-heritage/darkness-over-germany">learn from history</a>, rather than to rush head-first into more of the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Jones received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, Award no. ES/L008971/1 for the research quoted in this article. She is a member of the Labour Party, University and College Union, the British Sociological Association, and Birmingham Docs Not Cops.</span></em></p>The ‘centre’ has long been chasing the right on immigration politics.Hannah Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/983182018-06-15T14:01:14Z2018-06-15T14:01:14ZCapturing the Soweto Uprising: South Africa’s most iconic photograph lives on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223342/original/file-20180615-85834-1wlhyy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artist Johannes Phokela's ceramic memorial wall.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ruth Simbao</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/masana-nzima">Sam Nzima</a>, the photographer who captured the iconic image of the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising">1976 Soweto Uprising</a> <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-05-18-a-story-of-a-memorable-photograph-and-why-it-matters/#.WyOVCFUzbIU">passed away</a>on May 12, 2018. The photograph was one of six frames showing <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2014-06-12-red-herrings-plague-search-for-mbuyisa-makhubu">Mbuyisa Makhubu</a> carrying 12-year-old Hector Pieterson who was shot by police, and Hector’s sister, Antionette Pieterson (now Sithole) running alongside. </p>
<p>Sensing the impact these photographs would have in exposing the cruelty of apartheid, Nzima hid the roll of film in his sock. Following the release of the photograph worldwide, the police were <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/masana-nzima">ordered</a> by the apartheid government to kill Nzima if they found him taking any photographs. When he was summoned to John Vorster Square, the dreaded police headquarters in Johannesburg, he went into hiding. His career as a journalist for the anti-apartheid newspaper, <em>The World</em>, came to an abrupt end.</p>
<p>While Nzima’s photograph quickly became known as the most evocative photograph to emerge from the struggle against apartheid, initially few people associated the photograph with him. At times it was erroneously attributed to acclaimed photographer <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/peter-sexford-magubane">Peter Magubane</a>. </p>
<p>Just over a year later <em>The World</em> was <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/apartheid-government-declares-19-organisations-unlawful">banned</a> by the apartheid government, but Nzima’s photograph lived on. Printed onto numerous T-shirts, posters and pamphlets, it became virtually synonymous with protest.</p>
<h2>Protest and (over)exposure</h2>
<p>What happens to images that appear over and over again in the visual economy? Art historian <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2013-01-18-obituary-colin-richards-1954-2012/">Colin Richards</a> <a href="http://history.msu.edu/hst830/files/2013/09/Simbao_TheThirtiethAnniversaryoftheSowetoUprisings_ReadingtheShadowinSamNzimasIconicPhotographofHectorPieterson.pdf">suggests</a> that powerful images can also be extraordinarily vulnerable, for when they are sensationalised overexposure can weaken the historical moments they capture.</p>
<p>In 1989 liberation struggle stalwart Albie Sachs made a similar assertion when he presented the paper
<a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/memorandum_on_the_culture_and_resistance.pdf">“Preparing Ourselves for Freedom”</a> at an ANC in-house seminar on culture. He argued that,</p>
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<p>the power of art lies precisely in its capacity to expose contradictions and reveal hidden tensions.</p>
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<p>Sachs warned that the repetitive use of visual portrayals of struggle icons such as guns, clenched fists and protest slogans merely flattened meaning and impact. His call to ban the statement “culture is a weapon of struggle” was contentious and ignited an intense debate. Respondents such as historian Rushdy Siers <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/concluding-remarks">argued</a> that culture is based on lived experience, and “vivas, raised fists… AK’s and Amandlas” were indeed the lived experiences of cultural workers.</p>
<h2>The photograph’s shadow</h2>
<p>In Nzima’s original photograph the three figures cast a deep shadow on the ground. However, many versions of this image that were silkscreened onto protest posters and T-shirts flattened the image and omitted the shadow. Artworks that drew from this image, such as Kevin Brand’s <a href="http://history.msu.edu/hst830/files/2013/09/Simbao_TheThirtiethAnniversaryoftheSowetoUprisings_ReadingtheShadowinSamNzimasIconicPhotographofHectorPieterson.pdf">duct tape mural</a> on the outside wall of Musée de Dakar (1998) in Senegal, and Ernest Pignon-Ernest’s <a href="http://pignon-ernest.com/">public murals</a> at Warwick Triangle (2002) in Durban reintroduced the shadow, suggesting that this powerful photograph withstood potential numbing often induced by repetition.</p>
<p>Recalling philosopher Roland Barthe’s <a href="https://arthistoryunstuffed.com/roland-barthes-pleasure-text/">assertion</a> that texts need shadows in order to be productive and subversive rather than sterile, the shadow of this photograph and its numerous re-representations can be read as a metaphor for the rich debate that this image continues to bring to the surface. Commemoration is contested, and Nzima’s photograph has raised numerous debates.</p>
<p>An important question to ask is: to what degree does a powerful photograph reduce commemoration to the name of one person, thus overlooking the tragedies of other individuals who were killed on the same day? Due to the wide reach of Nzima’s photograph, it was initially believed that Hector Pieterson was the first student to be killed by the police. But oral testimonies <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/soweto-76-reflections-on-the-liberation-struggles-commemorating-the-30th-anniversary-of-june-16th-1976/oclc/70686405">suggest</a> that Hastings Ndlovu was not only the first to be gunned down, but was also deliberately sought out by the police. </p>
<p><a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2015-10-29-messing-with-the-western-art-cannons-masters">Artist Johannes Phokela</a> created a ceramic memorial wall that is dedicated to student leader Tsietsi Mashinini. It was <a href="http://history.msu.edu/hst830/files/2013/09/Simbao_TheThirtiethAnniversaryoftheSowetoUprisings_ReadingtheShadowinSamNzimasIconicPhotographofHectorPieterson.pdf">unveiled</a> at the 30th anniversary of June 16 in 2006. The memorial is shaped like an exercise book and the grouting between the tiles represents the lines on the pages. </p>
<p>This commemoration does not erase the memory of Hector Pieterson. Nzima’s photograph is portrayed behind the words of Mashinini that are written on the wall. Representing an open book, the commemorative wall suggests a willingness to accommodate counter-narratives of the uprising. As such, the horrific events of this day are not flattened, but are presented as stories or texts with shadows.</p>
<h2>History reanimated</h2>
<p>The persistence of Nzima’s photograph is remarkable. Not only was it used on T-shirts, posters and pamphlets in the 1980s, but it has reappeared in the form of artworks, memorials, monuments, and numerous cartoons, including the <a href="http://history.msu.edu/hst830/files/2013/09/Simbao_TheThirtiethAnniversaryoftheSowetoUprisings_ReadingtheShadowinSamNzimasIconicPhotographofHectorPieterson.pdf">work</a> of cartoonists Sifiso Yalo and Zapiro. The fact that it raises ongoing debate is important, as this works against the grain of much government-led commemoration that tends to reduce historical events to one-dimensional interpretation. </p>
<p>One of the most poignant forms of response to this iconic image is the live re-enactment of the photograph. When I participated in the 2006 commemorative march from Morris Isaacson High School to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando West, a group of young people ended the march with a re-enactment of the famous Nzima photograph.</p>
<p>This performative engagement with Nzima’s photograph, like the recent <a href="https://www.news24.com/Video/SouthAfrica/News/watch-sowetos-spirit-in-1976-and-rhodes-must-fall-in-2015-20160608">correlations</a> between the Soweto Uprising and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/16/the-real-meaning-of-rhodes-must-fall">Rhodes Must Fall</a> movement, is critical in terms of the reanimation of history. Not only are the historical events of Nzima’s photograph recalled, but new generations redefine events on their own terms and in relation to their own contexts. This brings alive the shadow of this iconic photograph.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Simbao receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. </span></em></p>The persistence of Sam Nzima’s June 16 photograph is remarkable. The shadow in the photograph can be read as a metaphor for the rich debate that this image continues to bring to the surface.Ruth Simbao, SARChI Research Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/531722016-01-14T18:18:15Z2016-01-14T18:18:15ZWhat Cecil John Rhodes said in his will about who should get scholarships<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108148/original/image-20160114-2368-1w7yvf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Eddie Keogh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The legacy of the British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes has sparked angry protests from Cape Town to Oxford. In the wake of the <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2015/12/17/Over-6000-attend-ZumaMustFall-marches">#RhodesMustFall</a> campaign, which resulted in his statue being removed from the University of Cape Town, students at Oxford have clamoured for another <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/dec/22/oxford-students-campaign-cecil-rhodes-statue-oriel-college">statue at Oriel College Oxford</a> to be removed. Now the name of the <a href="http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/rhodesscholarship/about-the-rhodes-scholarships">Rhodes Scholarship</a>, funded by the estate of Rhodes and handed out to international postgraduates to study at Oxford by the <a href="http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/rhodes-trust/trustees">Rhodes Trust</a>, is under attack.</em></p>
<p><em>In the latest development, a group of 200 international scholars <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/12/cecil-rhodes-scholars-reject-hypocrisy-claims-amid-row-over-oriel-college-statue">have said </a> that they took a Rhodes grant as a form of reparation, “knowing that <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/cecil-john-rhodes">Cecil Rhodes</a> did not intend it for us when he wrote his will.” Gemma Ware and Thabo Leshilo from The Conversation asked historian Professor Paul Maylam about what Rhodes actually said in his will.</em> </p>
<p><strong>Is it accurate to say that Rhodes was selective about who should be awarded scholarships?</strong></p>
<p>Yes, this is accurate – in the past there was heavy discrimination in the award of the scholarships.</p>
<p>Rhodes’ will specified that only males could be awarded <a href="http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/">Rhodes Scholarships</a>. There was a clause in the will that stated that “race” should be disregarded, but Rhodes clearly viewed race in terms of the English/Dutch divide. </p>
<p>It was clearly his intention that scholars should be white. A black American <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/alain-leroy-locke-37962">Alain L Locke</a> was awarded a scholarship in 1907, but thereafter there were virtually no black scholars until the 1960s. </p>
<p>It was only in 1977 that the first black South African was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. In practice, too, for many years scholarships were only awarded to unmarried men. So I presume the 200 scholars are either women and/or black and/or married. </p>
<p><strong>What views on white supremacy did Rhodes hold?</strong></p>
<p>Rhodes was an ardent white supremacist, as revealed in a couple of his <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=VbD_mokWhL8C&pg=PT25&lpg=PT25&dq=%22Treat+the+natives+as+a+subject+people+as+long+as+they+continue+in+a+state+of+barbarism+and+communal+tenure;+be+the+lords+over+them,+and+let+them+be+a+subject+race.%22&source=bl&ots=w6cUF9EgXk&sig=8jiFlprojwlAtTMMj3NWxuDMTC4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxrrCi9KjKAhXEXhQKHQ6MDRcQ6AEIHTAB#v=onepage&q=%22Treat%20the%20natives%20as%20a%20subject%20people%20as%20long%20as%20they%20continue%20in%20a%20state%20of%20barbarism%20and%20communal%20tenure%3B%20be%20the%20lords%20over%20them%2C%20and%20let%20them%20be%20a%20subject%20race.%22&f=false">statements</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I say the natives are like children. They are just emerging from barbarism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Treat the natives as a subject people as long as they continue in a state of barbarism and communal tenure; be the lords over them, and let them be a subject race.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>What did Rhodes intend <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Cecil-Rhodes">Oxford</a> to do with the money he left it in his will?</strong></p>
<p>Apart from the scholarships, Rhodes left money for Oriel College, where he had been a student over a number of years. The will stated that the £100 000 left should be used to expand the college’s buildings on to High Street (where the statue now stands on the façade of the extension), to support Oriel fellows, to maintain “the dignity and comfort” of the high table(!), and to fund the maintenance of the college’s infrastructure. There was nothing in the will to say that a building such as Rhodes House should be constructed in Oxford in his memory.</p>
<p><strong>How have the terms of the Rhodes scholarship changed since he left Oxford the money?</strong></p>
<p>There have been a number of changes in the criteria for selecting Rhodes scholars. Several years ago women, people of colour, and married persons became eligible. These changes were introduced gradually, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s. Rhodes had also specified in his will that sporting ability – or manliness – should be a criterion for selecting scholars. I believe this has largely fallen away.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Maylam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rhodes was an ardent white supremacist who believed Africans to be inferior. He intended his scholarships to be for white males only. This has since fallen away.Paul Maylam, Emeritus Professor, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/521692015-12-18T04:41:54Z2015-12-18T04:41:54ZGetting to grips with why race is still a divisive issue in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106573/original/image-20151217-8065-rh8ody.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young South Africans are angry with the failure of the country to deal with racism.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The title of South African newspaper editor Ferial Haffajee’s book, <a href="http://panmacmillan.co.za/book-author/ferial-haffajee/">What If There Were No Whites In South Africa?</a>, is provocative on many levels. The title alone is likely to evoke an emotional and visceral reaction from people across the colour divide. </p>
<p>Responses could range from: “good, that will solve all our problems”, to: “yes, then we will see how things deteriorate”.</p>
<p>The timing of the book, and the topic, speak to deepening, divisive <a href="https://www.nelsonmandela.org/uploads/files/POSITION_PAPER_ON_RACE_AND_IDENTITY_FINAL_DRAFT.pdf">race consciousness</a> in South Africa, 21 years after the dismantling of apartheid.</p>
<p>The author describes 2015 as a tumultuous year in the country’s history, punctuated by <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/university-fees">protests</a> and <a href="http://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/132398-here-is-where-south-africas-racists-chat-online.html">racist</a> incidents and attacks.</p>
<p>In grappling with controversial sociopolitical issues around antagonistic <a href="http://www.ijr.org.za/uploads/IJR_SARB_2015_WEB_002.pdf">race relations</a> in South Africa the author draws from her personal, sometimes intense experiences and insights.</p>
<p>She shares her story as a black women, and successful journalist, forging a space in an emerging democracy. For <a href="http://whoswho.co.za/ferial-haffajee-2616">Haffajee</a>, the political is <a href="http://www.biznews.com/transformation/2015/05/25/city-press-editor-ferial-haffajee-i-am-a-critical-patriot/">intensely personal</a>. It is the weaving together of these two strands that gives the author’s perspectives and insights great impact.</p>
<h2>White privilage holds centre stage</h2>
<p>The central thrust of the book is compelling. It argues that black South Africans, especially the new generation of young, black <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/04/29/south-african-born-frees-still-in-chains-irr">“born frees”</a>, are obsessed with whiteness and white privilege.</p>
<p>What emerges from the author’s reflections, discussions and research, is that angry – often polarising debates – about the ideology of whiteness now dominate national conversations and social media platforms. They also featured prominently in the enraged voices of the recent wave of <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/university-fees">student protests</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105846/original/image-20151214-9497-kh5vqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pan McMillan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The author taps into the psyche of the new generation of influencers through roundtable discussions and conversations with key young thinkers, pacesetters and elites. </p>
<h2>Debunking the myths</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://rhodesmustfall.co.za/">#Rhodes Must Fall</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/university-fees">#Fees Must Fall</a> student movements started out as causes relating to specific student issues. But they have escalated into a multiplicity of concerns. </p>
<p>The narratives that dominate the public space have morphed into intractable deeper questions about <a href="http://www.ijr.org.za/uploads/IJR_SARB_2015_WEB_002.pdf">social justice and inequality</a>. These are underpinned by the grand narrative of entrenched white supremacy in South Africa. </p>
<p>She goes on to say that this grand narrative, shared intergenerationally across race groups and manipulated for political expediency, is gaining traction. </p>
<p>Haffajee argues that this angry fixation on whiteness is limiting, backward looking, constrains agency, and is disempowering on many levels.</p>
<p>She debunks the many myths and distorted perceptions in the public domain concerning white dominance and power. The main storyline of this “false consciousness” is that whites and blacks perceive their numbers as roughly equal. Therefore, transferring the power of whiteness to black people would provide the panacea for the country’s woes. </p>
<p>These distorted narratives belie the statistical evidence that whites are a declining small minority, down from 10.95% of the population in 1996 to <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0302/P03022014.pdf">8.4% in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>And there would be little impact on distribution if the wealth of white people was nationalised and their resources distributed to black South Africans.</p>
<h2>What still needs to be done</h2>
<p>Haffajee recognises that South Africa is not truly transformed. She emphasises that white privilege and arrogance, informed by apartheid, colonialism and patriarchy, are still deeply entrenched, sharing her personal encounters with these.</p>
<p>She asserts that acknowledgement by whites of their privilege and an apology for the past is both necessary and desired by black South Africans. </p>
<p>What she cannot understand is how “freedom’s children” – the new generation of bright, articulate, motivated and educated young black people – define themselves. They see themselves as a disempowered minority seemingly confronted with the distorted perception of an overwhelming and oppressive white majority. </p>
<p>She argues that this means they have lost sight of the many gains that have been made since the advent of democracy; the rapid mobility of a growing black middle class, a substantial welfare net and a better life for many.</p>
<p>The disempowering narrative is played out against what the author describes as a powerful “black political kingdom” where the governing ANC controls extensive swathes of the economy and polity. It rules with a massive support, has huge financial muscle with spending capacity of R500 billion a year.</p>
<p>The author harbours deep conflict about the self-limiting discourse. The white dominance narrative is clearly at odds with her hard-won, middle-class freedoms and the black world that she perceives she inhabits. But she resists becoming part of the “self-satisfied elite” and finds comfort in the angst that prompts her to question her thinking.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105845/original/image-20151214-9515-1hupng5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ferial Haffajee.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She provides perspectives on possible causes of the whiteness obsession, observing that it is much easier to slip into victimhood – the default language of powerlessness – than claim the space, use the influence and authority to shape society. </p>
<p>The author quotes from the writer and scholar, R.W. (Bill) Johnson, who charges that the massive failures of governance in South Africa are a humiliating blow to black self-esteem. The worse this sense of failure:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the more passionately the “liberated” ego needs to vent itself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Desperately threatened egos can result in anti-white racism, anti-Semitism, a hatred of “outgroups” and increasing discrimination.</p>
<p>Haffajee vacillates between optimism. Among promising factors are the positive outcomes of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/university-fees">student protests</a>. And pessimism – the rampant corruption, mismanagement and abuses by the government. </p>
<p>It is this tension and self-doubt that permeate the book. The worthy, noble struggle for deep social justice by millenials in South Africa is juxtaposed against the disempowering narrative of “whiteness”, presented by the next generation as responsible for the burden they face.</p>
<p>These competing narratives make the book a challenging read. The reader is left feeling deeply ambivalent, still seeking answers to the provocative question posed by the title.</p>
<p>This is perhaps the purpose of the book. It provokes the hard, uncomfortable conversations about the “unfinished business of colonialism and apartheid” that South Africans must have if they are to move forward together as a nation. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="http://panmacmillan.co.za/book-author/ferial-haffajee/">What If There Were No Whites In South Africa?</a> is published by Pan Macmillan.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyn Snodgrass does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The central thrust of Haffajee’s book is compelling. It argues that black South Africans, especially the new generation of young, black ‘born frees’ are obsessed with whiteness and white privilege.Lyn Snodgrass, Associate Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/513702015-12-01T04:33:56Z2015-12-01T04:33:56ZDecolonisation should be about appreciating difference, not despising it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103668/original/image-20151130-10243-1gr9c30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The skylines of Alexandra township and Sandton City. Decolonising education involves helping students understand how different experiences shape our world.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Kim Ludbrook </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>My concern with grand narratives such as “decolonisation” is that they tend to silence what I would call “local narratives”. They are often accompanied by populist, often overwhelming rhetoric in ways that silence (if not obliterate) smaller narratives about who we are, where we are, how we got there, and how we can move forward. </p>
<p>What is implied within the decolonisation rhetoric is well captured by University of Dar er Salaam linguistics and foreign languages expert Doctor <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=qDxQBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Multilingualism+and+Education+in+Africa:+The+State+of+the+State+of+the+Art&source=bl&ots=iVVFeLNIhg&sig=mP527oy9GqyOR_v7C7H5vEaMUDo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXweb8-NLaAhXCDMAKHX9kAF4Q6AEIRjAE#v=onepage&q=Multilingualism%20and%20Education%20in%20Africa%3A%20The%20State%20of%20the%20State%20of%20the%20Art&f=false">Michael Kadeghe</a>. He points out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One only learns within the familiar habits of thought, experience and expression suggested by one’s traditional culture; and that colonialism occasioned a disruption of the natives’ traditions and experience that left them culturally impoverished, spiritually dislocated and in a state of moral decline.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While there is some truth in this, what it suggests is that culture, including how we know, what counts as knowledge, who is the legitimate author of it, is an entity that stays the same, remains pure and unadulterated.</p>
<p>In this narrative, later generations will “always find” the culture, and it will still be usable generation after generation. All they need is simply to go somewhere and find “it”. Hence, it is within their traditional culture that people are most at ease with themselves, and that there is a comfortable coexistence between the world and them.</p>
<p>Within this is an idea of African identity as an irreducible essence of the race, whose objective existence is the traditional culture as the only thing that defines the world. This has developed into some kind of an African philosophy, or way of life and society.</p>
<p>Inherent in this logic is an erroneous belief that African traditional values and a concept of the world form significant, if not permanent, essences of our identity. And, as such, the use of knowledge other than our own leads us to become something other than our “real selves”, a state of affairs at the root cause of our underdevelopment. </p>
<p>It follows then that as a corrective measure, the way forward is to reclaim African “ways of being” (I’m not sure exactly what this means) in knowledge generation, learning and academic expression. One may ask: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Can one only learn within the familiar habits of thought, experience and expression suggested by one’s traditional culture?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Smaller narratives</h2>
<p>Smaller narratives, I argue, get obliterated as the decolonisation grand narrative takes over. Right now my students are here to learn the specific disciplinary content they wish to specialise in. But, they are also getting educated to become critically aware citizens who live in a country with a constitutional democracy, where different races, cultures, life styles and religions coexist.</p>
<p>This means I need to create opportunities for my students to learn knowledge from Africa, but also the world. In other words, I want my students to learn to appreciate difference, rather than despise it.</p>
<p>For me as an academic, decolonisation means creating an environment for my students to receive a holistic educational experience which will ensure intellectual exposure to aspects of life in general that formal disciplinary content may not necessarily offer. </p>
<p>In the context of South Africa, for example, the Group Areas <a href="https://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01839.htm">Act</a> ensured that South Africans were raised apart from one another. While it is true that today’s generation of students is different to the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s generations, as a nation, South Africans still do not fully know one other.</p>
<p>In this context, decolonising education will mean exposure to opportunities that will ensure that students learn more about other fellow South Africans who might be different to them. </p>
<p>A law student, for example, needs to understand reasons we find prisons populated mainly by a specific race group and gender. Or a Bachelor of Commerce student needs to understand why the expression “I’m broke” means completely different things to different people. For example it means one thing to someone living in leafy Sandton in Johannesburg, and another to someone living in the neighbouring black township of Alexandra or in Rhini (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>You often hear students, and sometimes adults, labeling certain groups of people as lazy and others as “working hard”, simply on the basis of different economic positions they find themselves.</p>
<p>There is no realisation, for instance, that privilege or under privilege are in fact generational. This realisation has the potential to inculcate creative, sensitive and context responsive future professionals that would commit to rebuilding our beautiful land. What I call the “after colonial occupation” land". </p>
<p>There are enumerable examples that could be used to educate our students in ways that decolonise their minds. But the decolonising should be in ways that respond to the “local narrative” and take them beyond mere disciplinary knowledge whose focus and scope often limit them to just being learned, but not educated. Colonial education produces learned people. Decolonised education produces educated citizens.</p>
<p>This is not some kind of dogma. Just my thoughts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Mgqwashu receives funding from National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Decolonising education should be about ensuring that students learn more about other fellow South Africans who might be different to them.Emmanuel Mgqwashu, Professor of English Language Teaching and Literacy Development, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/505332015-11-12T03:31:23Z2015-11-12T03:31:23ZSouth Africans want the Springbok coach fired – is he just a whipping boy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101552/original/image-20151111-21214-1yaev2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African rugby coach Heyneke Meyer sings the national anthem at the World Cup. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters / Eddie Keogh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The narratives of South African rugby are complex and profoundly intertwined in the politics of race, ethnicity and identity. This is why there are competing and divisive storylines in the communal memory of the nation’s rugby history.</p>
<p>These evoke collective emotions of anger and humiliation for many, and deep pride for some. But, as with all deep-rooted conflict, rugby is not only about <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=2gZVA6qePtwC&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=identity+politics+in+SA+rugby&source=bl&ots=87BucBGwVl&sig=wc5xqHh-V31WmxpQTcpq6czCvbg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAWoVChMIwcTFoaCByQIVxh4eCh0-DAmP#v=onepage&q=identity%20politics%20in%20SA%20rugby&f=false">“identity politics”</a> and participation. It is also about fierce competition for status, power and resources. </p>
<p>Since Springbok coach <a href="http://www.sarugby.net/component/players/20732?view=player">Heyneke Meyer</a> and his team brought home the bronze medal from the recent Rugby World Cup, debates around the sport, and more particularly his future, have reached a new pitch. </p>
<p>South Africans were disappointed by the team’s performance. But they are also angry at continued economic and social injustices. These two emotions have created a tense environment.</p>
<h2>Rugby as a site of struggle</h2>
<p>South Africa’s rugby administrators are facing increased criticism for their failure to shed the sport’s white image. This is not a new issue. But the tone of the debate is different this time.</p>
<p>The reason for this is that the country is experiencing a paradigm shift in its political landscape, demonstrated by widespread student <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/university-fees">protests</a>. Starting with the <a href="http://rhodesmustfall.co.za/">#RhodesMustFall</a> campaign earlier in the year, the protests culminated in the recent victory of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-student-protests-are-about-much-more-than-just-feesmustfall-49776">#FeesMustFall</a> movement.</p>
<p>The threat of escalated conflict is the worst since the country’s first democratic elections. With deepening <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-will-remain-a-hugely-unequal-society-for-a-long-time-25949">inequalities</a>, severe <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02111stQuarter2015.pdf">unemployment</a> and poor economic <a href="http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/country-notes/southern-africa/south-africa/">growth</a>, it may be impossible to assuage the anger that has erupted.</p>
<p>In this mix rugby, a highly prized national sport, is under intense scrutiny for its slow pace of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-view-on-the-rugby-world-cup-and-south-african-national-unity-47653">institutional change</a>. </p>
<p>This is why the impending negotiation for renewal of coach Meyer’s four-year contract with the South African Rugby Union has become part of a highly politicised national conversation.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springboks/ex-boks-launch-heyneke-must-fall-campaign-20151107">#MeyerMustFall</a> Twitter campaign is in full swing. Instigated by ex-Springbok players who see Springbok rugby as in decline, it reflects the prevailing protest mood of the country.</p>
<p>And the country’s largest trade union federation, <a href="http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=11060">Cosatu</a>, has demanded that Meyer be removed for poor performance and alleged racism in his team selections. It also wants half of the national rugby side to be made up of players of colour, rising to 60% of the majority black Africans come the 2019 World Cup. And it threatened to protest against the lucrative <a href="http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Cosatu-End-rugbys-boere-clique-20140909">sponsorships</a> that underpin the sport if the targets aren’t met.</p>
<h2>What Mandela knew</h2>
<p>From the onset of democracy South African rugby was destined to be contested terrain. Illustrative of the deep cleavages in South African society, it is the sport most identified with Afrikaner <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/early-history-rugby-south-africa">nationalism</a> and <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/early-history-rugby-south-africa">colonial elitism</a>.</p>
<p>Prior to apartheid in 1948, rugby was played by both black and white South Africans, albeit separately. After segregation was <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/early-history-rugby-south-africa">institutionalised</a>, black South Africans could not play for, or against white teams, nor be selected for national sides. They were also denied access to rugby pitches and training fields.</p>
<p>Despite its divisive baggage, the sport has the ingredients to be the catalyst for deep transformation that speaks to unity and nation-building. The late Nelson Mandela knew this.</p>
<p>During his incarceration Mandela and the late Steve Tshwete, who would become the first sport minister under Mandela’s presidency, developed the idea of using rugby as a tool for <a href="http://www.jonathanball.co.za/index.php/component/virtuemart/springbok-factory-detail?Itemid=6">reconciliation</a> between the various political factions imprisoned on Robben Island. The Island Rugby Board was born in <a href="http://www.jonathanball.co.za/index.php/component/virtuemart/springbok-factory-detail?Itemid=6">1972</a> with organised refereed matches. Matches between black prisoners and white prison warders were also played.</p>
<p>And etched in the memories of all South Africans is Mandela in the green-and-gold number six <a href="http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springbok-Heritage/1995-RWC-squad-honoured-for-greatest-day-in-SA-rugby-history-20150624">Springbok jersey</a> handing captain Francois Pienaar the winning World Cup trophy in 1995. Hosting and winning the Rugby World Cup that year was a pivotal and iconic event in the psyche of the country’s shiny new democracy. </p>
<h2>Why rugby has to change</h2>
<p>Meyer, like all coaches, is the media face of South African rugby. The executive council, the Rugby Board, does not receive the same level of scrutiny. As a household name, Meyer alone bears the brunt of scathing criticism, and as such, is the receptacle for the nation’s anger and disappointment. </p>
<p>Given the prevailing mood in the country, Meyer is now the scapegoat for all the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3222958/South-Africa-Rugby-World-Cup-2015-preview-Heyneke-Meyer-opts-experience-bid-save-Springboks-legacy.html">rugby woes</a> besetting the country. The danger is that he is simply a repository for displaced anger and a distraction from the complexity of the real challenges facing the sport. Issues of change, or what is known in South Africa as transformation, are multi-faceted, systemic and intractable.</p>
<p>South African rugby is accused of <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-22-is-south-african-rugby-racist">racism</a>, <a href="http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/WorldCup/Dismal-failure-to-transform-SA-rugby-court-papers-20150831">maladministration</a> and a <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/columnists/2013/08/15/rugby-needs-professional-managers-and-fewer-unions">bloated bureaucracy</a> not in keeping with modern, sophisticated, global rugby management. More importantly it has not been able to harness, mobilise and adequately develop <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2015/08/27/saru-should-put-funds-to-good-use-and-develop-rugby-at-grassroots">grassroots support</a> – schools and clubs in marginalised communities – where the potential for its growth lies.</p>
<p>Rugby in South Africa is potentially worth billions of rand and its importance to the nation’s economy, global branding and <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-view-on-the-rugby-world-cup-and-south-african-national-unity-47653">nation-building</a> immense. But the country’s rugby audience and following is ageing. The sport’s success, possibly survival, depends on expanding its support base beyond the 20%, mostly white, of the population who say they are interested in the sport.</p>
<p>South African rugby is inextricably intertwined with larger debates of social justice, participation and identity currently trending in the country. It is clear that the future of the sport thus lies far beyond the #MeyerMustFall debates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyn Snodgrass does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s rugby administrators are facing increased criticism for their failure to shed its white image. The tone of the debate is different this time, amid growing protests against inequality.Lyn Snodgrass, Associate Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/478852015-09-25T04:32:26Z2015-09-25T04:32:26ZUniversities need to manage hate speech, not stifle freedom of expression<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95900/original/image-20150923-2608-9frpvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students protest at South Africa's Stellenbosch University demanding the right to be taught in English rather than Afrikaans, which they identify with apartheid.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The wave of protests that has swept across South African universities in recent times reflects the undercurrent sociopolitical tensions of the broader society. Universities, after all, are microcosms of society.</p>
<p>The university is, or should be, the bastion of the right to free expression in the promotion of democracy, and has a moral and ethical obligation to provide spaces for fierce debate and critical engagement. But the reality may be somewhat different with universities globally criticised as bastions of <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140605221621837">intolerance</a>, privilege, conformism and censorship. </p>
<p>Protests at several campuses, including vocational and further education colleges, in the wake of the <a href="http://rhodesmustfall.co.za/">#Rhodes must fall</a> movement have become increasingly violent. They are indicative of the discontent with the slow pace of change, referred to as <a href="http://www.dbsa.org/EN/About-Us/Publications/Documents/The%20challenges%20of%20transformation%20in%20higher%20education%20and%20training%20institutions%20in%20South%20Africa%20by%20Saleem%20Badat.pdf">transformation</a> in the country. This means much more than a change of policies and speaks to deep transformation relating to apartheid history. It involves confronting South Africa’s colonial, racist past to redress the issues which still cause humiliation in institutions today. </p>
<p>This discontent relates to student access to higher education, student fees, accommodation, language policies and the curriculum which are all seen as exclusionary and part of the apartheid legacy. </p>
<h2>Freedom of speech versus incitement</h2>
<p>The right to freedom of expression will be severely tested on campuses as offensive speech shades into hate speech and inflames violence. Institutions must endeavour to create forums and avenues for vigorous and even more, not less, contentious debate. This may indeed bring extreme discomfort and polarise many. And of course universities will have to have policies in place for when offensive speech morphs into hate speech and incites violence.</p>
<p>Interesting <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150908141823553">research</a> into the role of higher education institutions in preventing extremism suggests that there should not be excessive curbs on extremist speech. </p>
<p>Rather, it proposes, institutions should provide multiple platforms and diverse spaces for all views so that they can be challenged openly and publicly. The research also reveals that opportunities for students from various cultures to mix and debate is a deterrent to singular, narrow views.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95902/original/image-20150923-2652-1147g7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A student at a protest calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes from the campus of the University of Cape Town in March.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If there are already policies in place against hate speech and incitement to violence, tighter controls and stricter measures tend to drive political dissent <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150908141823553">underground</a> and have the potential to make it more explosive.</p>
<h2>The challenge is where to draw the line</h2>
<p>The South African constitution, one of the most progressive in the world, guarantees the right to express oneself <a href="http://fxi.org.za/home/">freely</a>. </p>
<p>But this freedom does not only extend to expressions we find comfortable or favourable, but to also those that <a href="http://www.capebod.org.za/archives/2120">shock, disturb and offend</a>. The question then becomes: when does offensive speech shade into hate speech?</p>
<p>The constitution states that the right to freedom of expression does not extend to advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, or that constitutes “incitement to cause harm”. </p>
<p>Hate speech is seen as a growing issue in South Africa and is under intense scrutiny. The country’s <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/about/democracy/sahrc.htm">Human Rights Commission</a> noted in February that there has been a <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2015/02/09/SAHRC-experiences-increase-in-hate-speech-cases">spike</a> in hate speech cases. </p>
<p>As our democracy becomes more robust, South Africans are going to encounter more controversy, contestation and conflict - not less. People, especially those on <a href="http://businesstech.co.za/news/media/97739/news24-is-shutting-down-its-comments-section/">social media</a>, will have to brace themselves to handle communication that is increasingly disturbing and offensive.</p>
<p>A number of examples of offensive speech stand out. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The Afrikaans singer Sunette Bridges was found guilty by the <a href="http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/index.php?ipkArticleID=330">Human Rights Commission</a> of “violent hate speech and racist” comments posted on her Facebook wall.</p></li>
<li><p>The derogatory utterances of <a href="http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/xenophobic-statement-is-king-zwelithini-guilty-of-hate-speech/">King Goodwill Zwelithini</a> against foreigners were blamed for sparking the most recent spate of deadly xenophobic violence. This case is being probed by the rights commission. A Nigerian rights group has also laid charges with the International Criminal <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/6b420200483199f49944ff4d1170398b/ICC-to-investigate-hate-speech-against-King-Zwelithini-20152904">Court</a> against the Zulu King. </p></li>
<li><p>The President of the Student Representative Council at the University of the Witwatersrand was <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-07-15-ex-wits-src-presidents-hitler-comments-were-freedom-of-speech">removed</a> from office for posting his admiration for Hitler on Facebook. Although the university found his comments abhorrent, it decided that he had not breached the right to free speech as enshrined in the constitution.</p></li>
<li><p>Parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete came under fire after she referred to the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters Julius Malema as a <a href="http://www.enca.com/opinion/why-cockroach-huge-deal">“cockroach”</a> at a meeting of the governing African National Congress, of which she is the national chairperson. After coming under attack for using language reminiscent of incitement in Rwanda before the genocide she unreservedly withdrew her remarks. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Why there is a need to tread carefully</h2>
<p>Hate speech takes on a whole new meaning in fragile, volatile democracies like South Africa. Here, protests, strikes and disputes rapidly <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/public-protest-democratic-south-africa">escalate</a> into extreme violence, and even death. </p>
<p>The history of humanity is replete with narratives illustrating the role of political hate rhetoric in ethnocentrism, and even genocide. Glaring examples are the <a href="http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143">Holocaust</a> and the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486">1994 genocide</a> in Rwanda. Hate speech is often the precursor to the scapegoating, dehumanising and demonising of outgroups, especially minorities, and the escalation of violent attacks.</p>
<p>South African politicians are no different from politicians all over the world who use inflammatory speech to mobilise group solidarity in order to derogate outgroups. <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21663225-why-donald-dangerous-trumps-america">Donald Trump</a>, the Republican running in the US presidential race, is the master of offensive, degrading speech.</p>
<p>Trump, too, has garnered popular support but this is where the comparison ends. South Africa, unlike the US, is still licking its wounds from a traumatic past. And it is still grappling with democracy. Politicians have a duty to exercise more caution.</p>
<p>Offensive speech, whether it is declared hate speech or not, has tremendous power. It generates complex human emotions which often have deep-rooted and traumatic significance in post-apartheid South Africa. These <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=cgk4j_fAXr4C&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=Eve+Lindner+on+revenge&source=bl&ots=uTsdOV7u-V&sig=Im_u4VOW9gX1rCcb5OlV-6Nw4P0&">emotions</a> can stir motives for revenge. </p>
<p>Institutions of higher learning need to find innovative ways and create multiple forums to stimulate critical debate and dialogue as part of constructive conflict engagement. This, after all, is their purpose, to develop global citizens and critical thinkers who champion human rights and defend democratic principles.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47885/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyn Snodgrass receives funding from the National Research Foundation </span></em></p>The university should be the bastion of the right to free expression in the promotion of democracy, and has a moral and ethical obligation to provide spaces for fierce debate and critical engagement.Lyn Snodgrass, Associate Professor and Head of Department: Political and Conflict Studies , Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/471402015-09-16T04:24:26Z2015-09-16T04:24:26ZUpheaval at South Africa’s universities is an opportunity to remake academia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94886/original/image-20150915-29616-1y39qy8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">University students are protesting various issues related to transformation on campuses across South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The current <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-04-28-op-ed-open-stellenbosch-tackling-language-and-exclusion-at-stellenbosch-university/#.VffJNRGqqko">wave of protest</a> in South African <a href="http://www.thedailyvox.co.za/rhodes-must-fall-the-movement-after-the-statue/">universities</a> shows up just how unprepared academia is to reflect on itself. </p>
<p>Yet, academia is uniquely qualified to do just that – solving the <a href="https://www.wickedproblems.com/1_wicked_problems.php">wicked problem</a> is what we are here for.</p>
<p>Too often, demands for change have stalled when they run up against rigid structure – think of post-apartheid change in South Africa or decolonisation across Africa. A strictly top-down bureaucratic organisation is very hard to change. Democratisation of South Africa, 21 years on, has not empowered the ordinary person to take on corrupt officialdom or poor service delivery.</p>
<p>Could an agile university offer a lesson to other parts of society? Consider the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-arab-world-a-new-model-for-civilised-revolution-962">Arab Spring</a>, where anger in the streets ran up against a police state mindset. Once president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, the attitude on the street was “job done”. Well, no. What ultimately <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/after-2011-uprisings-generals-regain-power-across-arab-world-a-984355.html">happened</a> was that one military dictator was replaced by another. </p>
<p>This illustrates that protest is not enough. Restructuring decision-making is what is really needed.</p>
<p>A university encapsulates the problem neatly. It is full of young people with energy and the cognitive tools to demand rapid change who are running up against a rigid, seemingly immovable structure.</p>
<p>There is enormous potential for long term and genuine change if universities change their approach to dissent.</p>
<h2>When rigidity relaxes</h2>
<p>Here are examples of what is possible when rigid institutional structures are relaxed and employees – in a university’s case, this would apply to both academics and students – are taken seriously.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Toyota introduced <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1763849/how-lessons-toyotas-production-line-will-help-efficiently-rebuild-new-orleans">Stop the Line</a> manufacturing, which allowed any worker to hit a button and stop the production line to fix a problem. </p></li>
<li><p>Google employees have the option to spend <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-20-percent-time-policy-2015-4">20% of their time</a> to pursue their own projects. </p></li>
<li><p>Software development used to follow a rigid step-by-step process. More recently, approaches like <a href="http://www.agile-process.org/">agile</a> software development have broken down this rigid approach in favour of more responsive methods that adapt to change rather than preventing it.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What all these things have in common is they create a self-learning organisation that is able to improve itself by rapid feedback. They also all have aspects of breaking the hierarchy.</p>
<p>A related concept is <em>action learning</em>: a student conceptualises a problem, reflects on it, works on a solution and repeats the cycle. There are variations on this basic methodology but the core idea is a feedback cycle. This approach becomes really powerful allied to modern thinking about how knowledge is <a href="http://homes.cs.ru.ac.za/philip/Publications/_CSE/social-construction-CSE.pdf">socially constructed</a>.</p>
<h2>Tensions simmering</h2>
<p>How could all this apply to running a university?</p>
<p>The key thing is to incorporate feedback into decision making and to allow ideas to originate anywhere in the organisation. Rather than a top-down committee-based approach, an agile approach deals constructively with hard issues. Those that cannot be dealt with in the traditional way provide leverage for rapid institutional reform.</p>
<p>On my own campus, Rhodes University, there are deep tensions between the <a href="http://www.thedailyvox.co.za/black-student-movement-occupies-rhodes-university-offices/">Black Students’ Movement</a> (BSM) and conservative elements on campus. The BSM may well represent a minority position – albeit a vocal one. But the issues they articulate are real, even if many students and academics would rather have a quiet life and leave things be.</p>
<p>A group of about 50 Rhodes academics – I am among them – has organised themselves into the Alternative Transformation Forum. It tries to cut across institutional boundaries and includes membership across the spectrum from junior academics to heads of department. It has an open channel to both the vice-chancellor and the BSM. Yet this is not seen as an asset.</p>
<p>Our messages are not transmitted on campus-wide email lists because they are not an “official” structure, a feeble excuse for censorship. Meanwhile tensions grow and issues are sidestepped. The main committee room, the Council Chamber, has been occupied by the BSM. Meetings are held elsewhere and tensions continue to simmer.</p>
<h2>Agility in the academy</h2>
<p>How differently would an agile university handle this?</p>
<p>The BSM would be recognised as a group of students who really care about the future of the institution. Their issues could become a focal point for reflection on what a university really is and what it could become. South Africa is a highly <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-10-30-inequality-mocks-sas-freedom">unequal society</a>, where the government has stalled at equalising privilege. This could be the start of an important conversation that could lead to a major breakthrough in stalled progress.</p>
<p>Young academics, with a fresh perspective, can see the roadblocks in a way those who grew up with the system cannot. Like Toyota workers, they are in a better position to see when to hit the big red button than the people at the top.</p>
<p>Instead of focusing on sticking points, standing on pettifogging interpretations of bureaucracy and <a href="http://oppidanpress.com/rhodes-admits-to-calling-for-police-assistance/">criminalising protest</a>, the university could look deep into itself for solutions to a wicked-hard educational crisis. </p>
<p>Eight in nine fee-free schools in South Africa are <a href="http://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/uhuru/documents/Functionality%20of%20SAs%20dysfunctional%20schools.pdf">failing</a>. Universities did not cause this crisis, but agile thinking could <a href="http://opinion-nation.blogspot.co.za/2015/08/education-crisis-alternative.html">lead to a solution</a> where traditional top-down thinking has failed.</p>
<p>My appeal to universities in general is to learn how to be agile organisations. They should be able to self-adapt, self-learn and do away with excessively hierarchical and bureaucracy-bound structures.</p>
<p>Universities, despite their many flaws, have one massive advantage over other rigidly structured organisations. Teaching, learning and knowlege creation is their mission. It is time they internalised those concepts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Machanick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is enormous potential for long term and genuine change if universities change their approach to dissent – and reinvent themselves as more agile institutions.Philip Machanick, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.