I was in my mid-teens when I was first introduced to the philosophy of pan-Africanism.
My late mother, a former member of the ANC with whom I used to attend meetings in Soweto as a child, believed that pan-Africanism was the most relevant philosophy in a South Africa where change was happening at a glacial pace.
As a teenager I read the works of Robert Sobukwe, Kaoberdiano Dambara, Julius Nyerere and some other great men and women that our continent has produced. What many of them had in common, besides being pan-Africanists, was that they studied at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) — an institution that carries the history of the African continent on its back.
The history of Africa and the people who shaped it cannot be told without speaking about UFH. As an institution, it produced many of Africa’s former presidents such as Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Botswana’s Sir Seretse Khama, Uganda’s Yusuf Lule, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, Lesotho’s Ntsu Mokhehle, and even Nelson Mandela.
It also produced men and women who have shaped the economic policies of the continent such as former attorney-general of Kenya, Sir Charles Mugane Njonjo, head of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), and former economic adviser to former president Thabo Mbeki, Wiseman Nkuhlu.
It produced great academics and scholars such as ZK Matthews, Loyiso Nongxa and Sam Nolutsungu. It gave us some of the most renowned literary minds such as Can Themba, Joseph Diescho and Archibald Campbell Jordan. It produced activists and revolutionaries such as Govan Mbeki, Alfred Nzo, Sabelo Pama, Oliver Tambo and Chris Hani.
It pioneered the leadership of women, producing the first black women doctor, Dr Mary Malahlela-Xakana, as well as one of the first women SRC presidents in the country, Nomsa Mazwai.
Some of the people who shaped the law in SA, such as Bill of Rights pioneer Milner Langa Kabane, are products of Fort Hare. The institution did not just educate and graduate these individuals — it changed the face of this continent.
It is for this reason that when I read scandalous news about the university, I feel immeasurably devastated.
Last week it was reported that the university had laid criminal charges against Nigerian fugitive prof Edwin Ijeoma for the allegedly irregular admission and registration of Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane and former health MEC Sindiswa Gomba, who both did not meet the basic requirements.
Mabuyane was under the supervision of the suspended professor, who it turns out was also involved in questionable and unauthorised academic work and programmes for the Eastern Cape provincial legislature and some municipalities.
These amount to millions and were done without the knowledge and consent of the university. This situation stinks to high heavens and demonstrates the corrupt relationship between the professor and powerful politicians in the province.
The Hawks are committed to bringing the perpetrators of various fraudulent activities to book, and the university has deregistered Mabuyane and Gomba. But the scandal has dealt a devastating blow to the reputation of an institution once deemed the premier university of Africa.
I wondered, as I read the news, whether people like Mabuyane understand what is at stake when they destroy institutions like UFH that carry the history of our continent on their backs. They are not only affirming the belief that everything that black politicians touch turns to dust but are spitting on the intellectual legacy that defines who we are as a people, and what we can contribute to the world.
It is unthinkable that a premier can be part of such an atrocity and if we do not hold him accountable, we are complicit in the destruction of our own civilisation.
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.