The imperatives of democracy demand that all public institutions be subjected to public scrutiny. Such scrutiny gives meaning to the notion of public accountability. For too long universities have abused the notions of institutional autonomy. The misapplication and misunderstanding of this notion have afforded the opportunity to institutions of higher education to hide the ugly face of what goes on inside the hallowed portals of the academy. Recent developments at the North West University regarding the process leading to the appointment of the vice-chancellor are a case in point. Unfortunately, the cacophony that surrounds coverage personalises issues and drowns out more fundamental issues.
With regard to North West University, the fundamental issue is not whether professors Sipho Seepe and Thandwa Mthembu and other candidates are better qualified than Dr Theuns Eloff, the preferred candidate. In fact, we harbour no ill feeling towards Eloff.
In approaching such matters, we should draw lessons from history. The last time an institutional leader’s academic credentials were called into question was eight years ago in what came to be known as the Makgoba Affair. The resulting conflict pitted William Makgoba against the white liberal establishment, provoking a commentary and support from then deputy president Thabo Mbeki. In this instance, a black academic appeared to be on the defensive. A resolution was struck when all the protagonists agreed that Makgoba’s curriculum vitae be subjected to scrutiny by an independent panel of experts.
While parallels can be drawn, the North West University presents a dissimilar development with interesting permutations. For one, Makgoba is an academic of high standing and international repute. In what can be read as an attempt to escape and avoid public scrutiny of his academic credentials, the main white actor in this case has been quick to acknowledge that he is no academic by profession. Eloff is woefully wanting with regard to both scholarship and higher education experience. Neither can he claim to have any superior strategic management experience than the rest of the candidates. He was parachuted into higher education only in 2002.
He was appointed despite — or to spite — the bold assertion carried by the advertisement that the university seeks, among key requirements, to appoint a candidate with “high academic pedigree and profile with an understanding of higher education transformation”. We concur that institutions of higher learning should not expect any less.
The rebuttals by the council chairperson and Eloff vindicate our suspicion that the whole process was a farce. Eloff has argued that it “doesn’t matter to be an excellent academic doing very good research if you aren’t a strategic manager. The council did not want an academic, but a manager who could manage a very complex process.” So, according to Eloff, black scholars with superior academic credentials and vast higher education management experience cannot manage a very complex process. Talk of white arrogance!
Black scholars and experienced managers may not have had the white privilege of running businesses in white South Africa. But, to suggest they lack skills to manage complex processes borders on racism.
How the North West University council was able to come to this conclusion by scrutinising the applicants’ curricula vitae would make interesting bedtime reading.
Elsewhere, we are told that the appointment of Eloff would bring continuity in the institution. We were under the impression that the institution was undergoing transformation. Our understanding is that the fundamental issue is that the restructuring of higher education institutions should be seen as a transformation tool to, among others, assist institutions to redefine a new identity and ethos, to redesign their missions and reassert their relevance to societal development, and to improve academic and research excellence so that South African institutions could take their rightful place in global higher education. The latter principles, rather than a desire to be appointed, are what prompted us to apply.
If the North West University case is quintessential of how such important decisions are being made at universities, then the prospects for real transformation of higher education in this country are bleak. One would think that the most important criterion to appoint a vice-chancellor for a brand-new university should be academic leadership/management and excellence. Otherwise, the very core business of that university could well be built on a rather shaky academic foundation. Political acumen, networks and expediency should not be elevated above these fundamental criteria. The rest should be seen as complementary attributes.
It is only recently that Mbeki has been engaging with vice-chancellors on how to carve out a new identity for our higher education institutions and through them our country. Are we now to accept that “continuity” of essentially Afrikaner Christian higher education — which Eloff represents — is a prerequisite for carving out this new identity? How certain are we that “continuity” will incorporate the values and ethos that the Mmabatho campus (formerly University of North West) brings to the merged entity? Unlike Eloff, most of us have been involved in, and published extensively on matters relating to the transformation of higher education. Our interest goes beyond applying for positions.
Our country and our continent face immense challenges of development and capacity building. And, through our government and its leadership, South Africa is rightfully taking a lead in tackling this challenge. But, government and Africa need greater collaboration and proactiveness from higher education institutions to meet this challenge in a sustainable manner. Institutions of higher learning should seize the opportunity of merging institutions to reverse deleterious perceptions of illegitimacy and irrelevance of higher education in society and to locate themselves within the epi-centre of Africa’s development and capacity building.
Finally, save for a few papers, the media clamour and strident calls for full disclosure reminiscent of the Makgoba Affair have been conspicuous by their absence. The muted voice from the white academic community is noticeable. The only noise came from a certain Dr Nico Cloete of the Centre for Higher Education Transformation, who sought to provide emotional support to a beleaguered colleague: “Don’t let these assholes rattle you — we are going to get a lot of this stuff from useless ex and aspirant new VCs, keep your eye on the students, not whiners.” This is the same Cloete who derided and insulted Professor Loyiso Nongxa when he was appointed last year as vice-chancellor of Wits.
To Cloete and his opportunistic ilk, the virtues of quality and excellence in scholarship and experience in academic leadership are no longer important. It would seem that an argument is being advanced that the most mediocre of whites is nonetheless better than black excellence and experience; that even after 1994 blacks continue to be assholes — as the apartheid regime considered them to be — for merely pointing out statements of fact.
Like the Makgoba Affair, developments at North West University reveal the terrible “racial”, political and class faults lying beneath the dominant discursive gloss of reconciliatory rainbowism.