The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has protested to University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) vice-chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba about a “severe decline” in academic freedom and a “climate of fear” on the UKZN campus.
Na’eem Jeenah, head of the FXI’s anti-censorship programme, was reacting to the bringing of disciplinary action against sociology academic Fazel Khan. Khan is charged with making “dishonest” or “reckless” comments to the media after he was airbrushed from a photograph in the university’s newsletter UKZNdaba.
In a strongly worded letter, Jeenah told Makgoba that this “latest incident … has caused us to stand up and take notice and … raised the level of our concern”.
The Mail & Guardian reported on the apparent censoring of the photoÂgraph, which accompanied an article on a documentary film about a Durban shack-dwellers movement from which Khan was also omitted. He had co-directed the film, shown at the International Labour Film and Video Festival in Turkey.
Khan said his omission from the picture and the article was “dirty revenge” for his role in UKZN’s February staff strike. He belongs to the Combined Staff Association, one of four unions at the university.
The documentary’s other co-director, UKZN graphic artist Sally Giles, took responsibility for the airbrushing and for supplying the newsletter with information omitting mention of Khan.
Khan’s comments to the M&G are cited in the charge sheet delivered to him this week. Two other charges are based on his comments to The Mercury and The Witness on the same issue, published a week later.
Jeenah’s letter to Makgoba notes that Khan faces possible dismissal, adding that the university’s action is “appalling … Only in the most authoritarian societies do universities prevent academics from speaking to the media about their work, their research and their opinions and criticisms on the development of society and of their own institutions.”
The FXI’s main concern, Jeenah wrote, is that the action against Khan “is an example of the manner in which freedom of expression is being eroded at UKZN”. Having spoken to a number of the university’s academics over the past year, “we believe that … a climate of fear has taken root at the university, where academics, workers and students are afraid of … challenging or criticising the university administration”.
The letter cites a number of other recent developments that “threaten the spirit of inquiry and academic freedom”. One is a confidential report of a joint management-union task team after the staff strike, which recorded staff perceptions of executive management as authoritarian and the climate at UKZN as intimidatory and bullying.
Another concerns the university’s electronic communications policy, which the FXI writes is “a gross violation of academic freedom and freedom of expression. Apart from allowing the university to spy on individuals’ e-mail correspondences, it also allows the university to read documents on staff members’ personal computers (that belong to the university).”
The letter notes a university announcement this week that the policy is still in draft form, but observes that it has been in effect since January.
Other concerns the FXI raises include official cautions to staff about communicating with the media; and the still unresolved banning of Ashwin Desai “months after [Makgoba] had promised that the matter would be resolved”.
Makgoba said he had no comment on the FXI letter. Khan said he preferred not to comment on the charges against him for fear of prejudicing his case.
Combined Staff Association president Evan Mantzaris observed: “People can’t talk openly — this isn’t a university any more. The whole collegial relationship has disappeared.” His union strongly opposed the action against Khan and will look to the other unions for their support.