The right to reply space encourages readers to feel a co-ownership of the newspaper so that it is a public debating space run by a wider forum, rather than just the reporters and editors who run it.
So it pains me to intrude upon readers’ space, but the article last week by a group of leaders at the University of KwaZulu-Natal deserves a second look.
The deputy dean of the medical school, Professor Nceba Gqaleni, the deputy dean of students, BhekiÂÂthemba Ngcobo, and three student leaders responded to Lubna Nadvi’s article about rape on campus.
In a nutshell, they accused Nadvi and her associates of racism and said that they were only prepared to engage constructively when three white university managers were brought into talks following the rape of a student at a residence. It’s nonsense, of course, and completely deflects attention from the serious problem of the safety of students, both male and female.
But the article reflects a much more fundamental problem in that it reflects poorly upon a cohort of black leaders who are clearly in office, but not in power. How else do you respond to their statement that ”A number of African students have died or been mugged in residences.” The writers throw in this statement as evidence of Nadvi’s alleged ÂÂracism and charge that she only cared when an American student was raped, not because it is deeply shocking that places of learning have become places of horror.
Instead of asking what Nadvi, a lecturer, has done about the declining living conditions at the residences, shouldn’t the writers be asking that question of themselves?
They are the head blacks in charge and have the power and duty to make the residences safe. Then, the writers throw in another shocking line. ”… why have they not been angry at the rape of African females the way they are now?”.
Surely the question should be why the (African) men in charge have not been angry at the rape of African females. One rape is a rape too many and they should be ashamed that any one student has been raped at what should be a place of ultimate safety and freedom.
The five senior leaders who wrote this piece to the newspaper spent a lot of time ensuring that their piece (an abrogation of duty if ever I read one) was published.
They also seem to spend a lot of time finding racists under every bed. If only they were to spend that time making the university the beacon of safety and learning that their positions of authority and influence demand of them. If only.
Ferial Haffajee is editor of the Mail & Guardian