Manzini reflected upon her recent experiences at her new institution. I won’t comment on most of those reflections, and would rather focus on her closing remarks. She asks, “Ultimately, on whose standards do we measure and determine whether a university is ‘good’ or not?” There are two implicit questions here. First, is there but one […]
education
Posted inBusiness, Equality, General, News/Politics
Aesthetics of power and questioning what a ‘good’ university is
By Nompumelelo Zinhle Manzini It’s been two weeks of being at the University of Zululand (UniZulu) as a contract lecturer for the Philosophy Department. Perhaps these personal reflections are slightly premature but I think that they do bear some merit. I have only been on the main campus which is in Kwadlangezwa, which is in […]
Posted inEquality, General
Equality and intellectual emancipation
How does one achieve the intellectual emancipation of students, or, for that matter, of anyone, including yourself? The answer most people would probably give to this question, is that it is done through education and learning. To be sure, but what one learns from the French philosopher, Jacques Rancière, is that a great deal depends […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The pro-poor rhetoric of the ANC government has failed to translate into meaningful economic policy
In my previous Op-Ed in this column I raised a serious concern whether the ANC-led government has paid required attention and effort to effectively address the structural manifestations of the apartheid legacy in a systematic and vigorous way beyond the usual public rhetoric about the evils of the system and the often repeated promise of […]
Posted inGeneral
Has the time for ‘talks about talks’ come in SA?
The student protests of the last year are reminiscent of the 1976 student uprisings. Those protests were the precursor to a political change in South Africa less than a decade later. When young, educated “born free” South Africans express anger and impatience it’s time to pay attention. They have shown they want action. They want […]
Posted inEquality
On black excellence: Charlotte Mannya Maxeke
I’ve been reading Zubeida Jaffer’s biography of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, Beauty of the Heart. I was very excited at the prospect of finally having a book available about a woman who is mostly known through the hospital that is named after her in Johannesburg. Beyond the hospital naming, I doubt she is a household name. […]
Posted inEquality, General
A letter to a mother who raised black girls
Dear Mama I don’t know if you’ve seen the news: young girls at Pretoria Girls High School have been in the news because their school has racist hair rules. Apparently their some of their parents don’t agree with their protest. What has also been in the news is the story about 3000 girls in the […]
Posted inEquality, General
Children shouldn’t have to trade off their identity for a good education
It was 1998 and my nine-year old self was late for a phys-ed swimming class. I vividly remember walking into the swimming pool gates and being firmly reprimanded by the teacher who was furious at me. He then proceeded to call me a “kaffir” in front of the whole class. I had never heard the […]
Posted inEquality, General
My dream was to matter and not be invisible
By Lisa Thelma Sidambe Most of us enjoy a juicy, delicious and well-cut steak. Some like to have it casually and others have it to punctuate a celebratory mood. I am sure even now some of us are impatiently waiting for these festivities to be over so that we can have a lusciously juicy steak […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Congrats Malema, you have made us proud
By Zukiswa Mqolomba Firstly, I would like to congratulate the honourable Julius Malema for having graduated with his first degree in communications and African studies from the University of South Africa. Secondly, I’d like to congratulate him for being accepted for his first postgraduate degree, an honours in philosophy. These are inspiring achievements that should […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
There’s no dignity in education without proper sanitation
By Chandni Gopal and Zandile Ngubeni Human Rights month serves a dual purpose; we are reminded of the sacrifices that accompanied the struggle for the attainment of democracy in South Africa but are also afforded the opportunity to reflect on progress made in the promotion and protection of our hard-earned human rights. With this year […]
Posted inEquality, General
Fort Hare is not what it is used be
The celebration of University of Fort Hare’s 100th anniversary has, indeed, revealed historical revisionism to portray the university as a hot bed of revolutionaries. This is a predictable political revision as the desire is to create the profession that former students were trained and destined for revolutionary roles in society. But one ZK Matthews does […]