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Opinion: Building the nation on a firm foundation

19 March 2021 | Story Dr Martin Mandew | Photo Kaleidoscope Studios (Sonia Small)

A Human Rights view by Dr Martin Mandew, Campus Principal of the UFS Qwaqwa Campus

It is not easy to discern the silver in the lining of the pandemic cloud that we have been living under over the past twelve months. I hazard to say that for those at the bottom of the socio-economic heap, those whose daily life is nothing but a gut-wrenching struggle to scrape together a semblance of a meal, talk of silver linings is foreign to their experience. The pandemic has shown just how low leaders can sink when elected public officials steal and redirect food parcels – meant for the poor and destitute – for their own personal consumption, for those close to them through family ties, through friendship and through political affiliation, or sell it for personal financial gain. The intended relief measures, designed to be non-partisan, are used instead to promote the socio-political divisions that already exist in the community. The unspoken mantra seems to be: If you look like me, if you think like me, if you believe like me, if you speak like me, if your political beliefs are like mine, only then can you expect me to do the public good for you and for your benefit that I have been elected to do, even though I get paid for carrying out this very important task. Talk of unity is rich in such an environment.

Nation-building
The devastating impact of the pandemic will be felt for quite some time. In the next twelve months we must, despite the enormous challenges ahead, re-imagine and craft a future of unity, where personal, political, ethnic, racial, gender, economic, and other differences will not stunt and sabotage efforts of socio-economic renewal. This Human Rights Month is a stark reminder for us to go back to our foundations as a South African nation. It is a time to press the reset button in the agenda of nation-building. Nation-building is not achieved through a fiat, a ‘let-it-be-so’ declaration. While taking the necessary steps to rebuild a battered economy, nation-building also entails making the necessary investments in social support to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable in society, while also ensuring that the white-collared hyenas are kept at bay. The right to health care, food, water, and social security is enshrined in the Constitution.

The future
Nation-building also entails making bold investments in education, taking care that as budgets are re-organised, re-prioritised and reduced, the education sector is not made a casualty of austerity measures. We must not falter to build our nation on a solid foundation of education, ensuring that we make the right investments and the required interventions in this very critical sector. There are components in the sector that are weak and glaringly under-resourced, such as early childhood development, as well as post-school technical and artisanal training. We need to strengthen these as part of building a firm foundation for our fledgling nation. This is a very important asurance for the future of our nation. Only an educated nation is best equipped to confront the challenges that lie ahead, such as those that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust upon us. The right to education is enshrined in the Constitution.

News Archive

Nat Nakasa the inspiration behind UFS academic’s PhD thesis

2017-01-09

Photo: Supplied

“I’m interested in alternative ways of approaching things, so I wanted to look at how journalism can be used in an unconventional way to contribute to a developing society.”

This is why Dr Willemien Marais, a lecturer in the Department of Communication Science at the University of the Free State (UFS), decided to title her thesis: Nat Nakasa as existential journalist, describing a form of journalism that places emphasis on the individual’s experiences.

“Existentialism is a philosophy that provides scope for an individual approach to life, and I like Nat Nakasa’s writing because of his excellent sense of humour despite his horrific circumstances as a black journalist during apartheid,” she says.

A practical approach to writing

Dr Marais analysed Nat Nakasa’s approach to journalism through articles he wrote in the early 1960s. She searched for relevant themes of existentialist philosophy in Nakasa’s work in order to prove that he could be read as an existential journalist.

She mentions that in terms of contemporary relevance, Nakasa’s approach to journalism suggests that existentialism could provide the journalist with a practical approach to writing, especially for those journalists working in developing societies.

“The relevance of this approach lies in the fact that any society is always between things – the old and the new – which might require the journalist to operate outside the boundaries of conventional journalism.”

This study was qualitative in nature because of the interpretation required. She mentions that it was basically one of many possible interpretations of Nakasa’s work; with this one using existentialism as a lens.

An intellectually stimulating thesis

Dr Marais quotes French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, who said that interpreting someone’s work, especially someone who was no longer alive, was open to “thousands of shimmering, iridescent, relevant meanings”, and her research represents one of these possible meanings of Nakasa’s work as a journalist.

When asked how long she had worked on her thesis, Dr Marais simply answered “too long!” She mentions that her thesis was initially more of an intellectual exercise. Whereas the actual act of writing took about four months, she spent many years thinking about the topic. “Now that all is said and done, I realise I had to grow into the topic. It took me a while to realise that true understanding does not come overnight!”

Dr Marais mentions that other than herself and the work of Nat Nakasa, there were no other roleplayers involved. “For many, many years it was just Nat Nakasa and I. It was frustrating and exhilarating all at the same time.”

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