Rhodes University’s first black vice-chancellor Saleem Badat has announced he will be stepping down from his position.
Fanon’s arguments about decolonising the humanities have resonance in academia today.
Intellectuals, public officials, business and civil-society leaders and political commentators have complained about South African universities’ lack of ”visibility”. For some, universities have not addressed the myriad economic and social-development challenges the country faces.
Remember the days when, as inaugural transport minister, Mac Maharaj insisted that he would continue to drive his beat-up old Jetta? It struck a chord, for it spoke of a government that would live comfortably yet simply. Those days died quickly as the new democrats dusted off old protocol books designed for a venal order.