We’re now a nation without the rainbow
THE STRUGGLE for freedom has been fought on many terrains of our society. Some universities served as trenches for waging the Struggle. They resisted the National Party government which compelled such institutions to practise racial discrimination.
Academic apartheid as enforced by the regime separated universities on the basis of race and some were built to cater for specific ethnic groups among African people.
The for mer Rand Afrikaans University, University of Stellenbosch, and University of the Free State would primarily cater for Afrikaans-speaking students. The universities of Zululand, Fort Hare and Turfloop would cater for Zulu, Xhosa and Sepedi-speaking people.
The fierce resistance to academic apartheid resulted in most universities adopting the fundamental principle of academic freedom. Through this policy position, universities declared that they should have the freedom to determine who should teach and who should be taught and what should be taught on their various campuses.
As a result of the principle of academic freedom, then white liberal universities were able to admit black students for studies in fields such as engineering and medicine.
But the apartheid government continued to have a grip on who the universities could admit. The so-called quota system placed restrictions on the number of black, coloured and Indian students that white universities could admit,
In June 1983, former Progressive Federal Party MP Alex Boraine spoke passionately against the legislation in Parliament. He stated: “The quota system is a system which restricts admission on the grounds of race. It is based, therefore, on race classification on the Population Registration Act.
“When one applies for a permit or when one applies under the quota system one produces one’s birth certificate. That is the kiss of death, as it were, for a young coloured, Indian or black student, because at the moment he applies he is not asked for his matric certificate, they do not ask him how well he did at school or what his symbols were, but he is asked what his colour is. That is the quota system. It is racially enshrined,” Boraine said.
The quota system required that students who were then classified “non-white” should apply for a permit from the relevant minister so that they may gain admission at a white university.
A good example of how the quota system functioned could be the late Dr Nthato Motlana’s experience. He obtained a BSc from Fort Hare and was awarded a bursary to study medicine at the University of Witwatersrand as part of a quota of black students. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1954 and many other black students managed to graduate at white universities by slipping through the quota system, often with the support of the liberal white university management.
Academic literature explains academic freedom as concerned with the individual freedom of students and professors: freedom to pursue a chosen course of study, freedom to engage in teaching and research. This is to be secured by individual rights, enshrined in law, and protected by the courts.
Because universities are supposed to be engaged in research which questions old beliefs and seeks to establish new truths, academics need greater protection of their intellectual freedom than is available to ordinary citizens.
In defence of academic freedom and the autonomy of the university, in one of its assemblies, Wits University made a profound statement on academic freedom and freedom in general by declaring that freedom is indivisible. Wits affirmed a university cannot enjoy academic freedom while the population is denied basic freedoms which are found in any democratic society.
The notion freedom as indivisible is particularly relevant. Twentythree years after democracy, the majority of black South Africans are excluded from the mainstream of the economy and rendered poor and helpless in the face of rising cost of living.
Black South Africans have, through the Struggle, attained political freedom but they are still deprived of economic freedom. What is the use of enjoying the freedom to vote when you cannot afford to put food on your table?
There is a lesson to be learnt from the experiences of historically white universities and that is freedom cannot be separated into many other freedoms, it is a holistic phenomenon that all of us should experience in our democratic society.
It is interesting to observe that President Jacob Zuma, when he was addressing the ruling ANC’s centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein in 2012, said the party, and the country, had to face up to the “triple challenge” of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Five years later, and the country has been downgraded to sub-investment level.
Poor governance on the part of the president has exposed the economy to the risk of not been able to grow at an acceptable level. We are in a situation in which the demand for goods and services is going to decline and employers will be left with little option but to cut jobs. It is the ordinary folk who are going to lose their economic freedom as a result of a cabinet reshuffle which was done nicodemously.
The government has failed to build a quality education system that is an essential tool in the development and empowerment of the people. Freedom to access university education should coexist with freedom to buy the basic food that you need at university.
The question is: How come a country that had the promise of becoming a beacon of hope for Africa has degenerated to a society characterised by poor governance, corruption, joblessness and increasing poverty?
Boraine in his book, What’s Gone Wrong? On the brink of a failed state, may have the answer when says the ANC has transplanted a culture of exile into the new South Africa. All the negative aspects of the exile years are apparent: the stifling bureaucracy, poor administration, incorrect choices, deployment, political incoherence and the high life enjoyed by the top leadership. The ANC is concerned more with the party than with good governance. MPs owe allegiance to the ANC rather than to the constitution. The question we face is: What do we do now? In the 1972 political movie, The Candidate, the question goes unanswered. Will we answer it?
Dr Tutu Faleni is a DA member of the North West legislature and a former academic at the North West University. He writes in his personal capacity.