Rhodes scholar-elect controversy

THE paradox of being a #RhodesMustFall activist and a Rhodes scholar-elect is not lost on Mbalenhle Matandela‚ but she believes being in this position can help her do good.

Matandela‚ 23‚ and fellow #RhodesMustFall activist Joshua Nott are among nine South Africans awarded scholarships of R670 000 each by the Rhodes Trust to join Oxford University later this year.

Both were involved in 2015 protests at the University of Cape Town (UCT) calling for a statue of Cecil John Rhodes to be removed from its prominent place on campus.

Matandela‚ who knows Nott from their time as students at UCT‚ said she regarded the scholarship as an opportunity to learn more about the African diaspora and further her other intellectual interests.

Matandela will register for an MPhil in development studies when the academic year begins at the end of September‚ hoping to engage in a gendered analysis of development on the African continent.

She currently works for the University of the Witwatersrand’s Centre for Applied Legal Studies’ Right2Protest project.

Her honours thesis focused on the experiences of black women in the #RhodesMustFall movement.

Nott has been plunged into a social media storm in South Africa and the UK‚ with some labelling him a hypocrite for accepting the scholarship in light of his #RhodesMustFall activism.

UCT’s Rhodes Must Fall Facebook page rejected Nott as a key member of the movement following the publication of several articles by British newspapers.

“Joshua Nott and I have political differences‚ so I would prefer not to comment on his backlash‚” Matandela said.

Matandela said she saw the Rhodes Trust’s scholarship as reparation for past injustices.

Matandela‚ who attended a Pietermaritzburg private school, Epworth, on a scholarship‚ comes from a working class family. Her mother was a live-in domestic worker in the Durban suburb of Westville.

TMG had not yet been able to reach Nott by telephone‚ but sent him questions and an interview request by e-mail. — TMG