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Experts differ on whether South Africans just accept things: UFS panel discussion

18 July 2023 | Story André Damons and Samkelo Fetile | Photo Stephen Collett

UFS Thought-Leader Series — The 2023 Thought-Leader Panel. From left: Prof Bonang Mohale, Dr Lindie Koorts, Prof Francis Petersen, Dr Sipho Pityana and Prof Piet Croucamp.

Panelists at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Thought-Leader Panel discussion disagreed whether South Africa has a culture of acceptance, with one panelist claiming “it is absolute nonsense”.

Prof Piet Croucamp, who teaches politics at the North-West University (NWU), answered the question whether South Africans just accept things as if they were normal because they do not know anything different with a frank: “It is absolute nonsense”.

Prof Croucamp was one of four panelists who took part in the panel discussion titled: “A Culture of Acceptance – South Africa’s Greatest Threat?” as part of the 2023 Thought-Leader Series on Thursday (13 July 2023). The other panelists were Prof Bonang Mohale, President: Business Unity South Africa and UFS Chancellor; Dr Sipho Pityana, Founder and Chairman: Izingwe Capital; and Dr Lindie Koorts, Research Fellow: International Studies Group (ISG), UFS.

Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, was the facilitator.

Biggest motion of no confidence

Prof Croucamp said only 47% of registered voters turned up to vote during the 2021 elections and only 12% of eligible voters voted for the ANC, while 88% voted for other political parties or stayed away.

“The reason why the ANC dipped below 50% is because people stayed away and by staying away, they were saying something. They were saying ‘we have lost confidence in this particular system’, but more so in this political party. It is the biggest motion of no confidence that I have seen in this country.

“Only 12% could identify with that narrative. So do not tell me people are passive and have nothing to say and that they have just accepted things. It is simply not true,” Prof Croucamp said.

According to him, black entrepreneurs who have benefited from black economic empowerment and who operate mostly in the informal economy, are responsible for the recent burning of trucks. They are now seeking to enter the value chain of the formal economy, in this case, the logistics economy.

“They compete with each other through the use of violence. Bheki Cele (minister of police) said the burning of trucks is business-related and I agree with him. It spilled over from the mining industry in Mpumalanga. These are economically empowered entrepreneurs who use violence and crime as a way to establish themselves in the value chain. Do not for one moment believe it has something to do with the violence of July 2021.”

Culture of acceptance

Prof Mohale said the timing of the recent truck burnings is interesting because it happened on the second anniversary of the violence that occurred in July 2021. These attacks on the trucks are clearly coordinated. By Thursday morning (13 July this week) 21 trucks had been burned. There is no way this was spontaneous, he said.

“The timing is important. Look at the data; from 9 July 2021 – two weeks which are referred loosely to as a failed insurrection with rampant looting – Minister Bheki Cele at that time talked about the “Dirty Dozen” because 12 people were identified as responsible and he said they would be arrested soon.

“Yesterday (Wednesday 12 July) he tells us about the Dirty Dozen again. Look how easily we accept this number. The same way that we accepted a report in 2003 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which said those people who did not get full amnesty because they did not disclose must be charged. Twenty years later nobody has been charged,” said Prof Mohale.

According to him, there is a culture of acceptance of everything we are promised. We are told they were going to do “A”. Nothing is done and there are no consequences.

The two weeks in July 2021 are important, he said. There were two components, part of it was highly organised and orchestrated via WhatsApp messages. Then the other half was spontaneous.

“Look at the economic consequences.” They were not helping black people but were plunging them further into poverty. More than 350 people were killed and 200 malls burned and 5 000 businesses destroyed. Some 40 000 jobs were put at risk, eight warehouses and 11 factories were gutted and 1 400 ATMs were destroyed and R160 million was stolen. More than 1.5 million rounds of ammunition were stolen which later found their way to cash-in-transit robberies, Prof Mohale said.

Constitution an empowering tool in the hands of citizens

Dr Pityana said the most urgent threat facing this country today, is that of becoming a failed state and the acceleration towards that failure. The questions that citizens have to ask is what can be done to stem that acceleration?

“My reference point when I think about this nation is the constitution because the constitution is a fantastic tool in the hands of each and every citizen. It is a very empowering tool. There are two things we did when we adopted the constitution; two very important pieces of legislation were passed. The first was the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. The next is the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

“The constitution enjoins us to drive a value-based society. A value-based society as distinct from a majoritarian society. The importance of that, is that it is a tool that is about saying to each and every one of us as South Africans what is the vision of the country that we want to build. The value of the constitution is that we must build an inclusive society and it does not matter what our station is. For as long as there is a poor person somewhere, we are exclusive. For as long as there is somebody somewhere who feels they do not belong, they do not have access to health, education, they do not have access to a range of things, it is not good enough to say that at least I get it,” said Dr Pityana.

Elites feeding off the people

Dr Koorts, who often writes on the links between current affairs and history, agreed with Prof Croucamp that the stay-away vote was a huge vote of no confidence in the ANC. But, she continued, it is keeping the country where it is. The ANC suffers from what she calls the “broad-church disease”.

“We need transition. Does the answer lie with our opposition parties? I would say they suffer from the same ‘broad-church disease’, unfortunately, because you trying to find as many votes as possible and you accommodate as many as possible, which is very laudable. But again, contradictory forces mean you are not getting anywhere. Unfortunately, if there's one party that does not suffer from broad-church disease, I would say it’s EFF who really know what they stand for,” Dr Koorts said.

She also said elites are feeding off the people because people are doing things for themselves.

“If people are doing things for themselves, for example, fixing potholes themselves – great, that money can be pocketed. Getting refuse to the dumps by ourselves, more money to be pocketed, solar panels, water tanks, etc. But tax collection does not stop. You have an elite feeding off people. ‘Do-it-yourself’ cannot go without accountability. Because otherwise you will just be doing more and more for yourself”.

Watch the series below:

News Archive

Situation on the Bloemfontein Campus, and letter to parents

2016-02-28

Letter to parents from Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS

Statement by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS) about the situation on the Bloemfontein Campus

1.   As all of you know, last night we witnessed a really tragic event at Xerox Shimla Park on the Bloemfontein Campus on the occasion of the Varsity Cup rugby match between NMMU (FNB Madibaz) and UFS (FNB Shimlas).
2.   The game started at 18:30 and about 17 minutes into the match, a group of protestors sitting on the north-eastern side of the stadium decided to invade the pitch and disrupt the game in progress.
3.   After a short while, some of the spectators also invaded the field, chasing and brutally beating those protestors whom they caught.
4.   As a university leadership we condemn in the strongest terms possible the vicious attack on the protestors. Nobody, repeat nobody, has the right to take the law into their own hands. While the protests were illegal and disruptive, it did not harm to the physical well-being of the spectators.
5.   The reaction from the group of spectators, however, not only opened old wounds, it trampled, literally and figuratively, on the dignity and humanity of other human beings. This we condemn in no uncertain terms, and no stone will be left unturned to find those who acted so violently on what should have been a beautiful occasion that also brought families and young children together to enjoy an evening of sport.
6.   I cannot over-emphasise our level of disgust and dismay at the behaviour of the spectators. It is NOT what the University of the Free State (UFS) is about and we are working around the clock to gather evidence on the basis of which we will pursue both charges and, in the case of students, also disciplinary action on campus.
7.   At the same time, the invasion of the pitch is also completely unacceptable and we will seek evidence on the basis of which we will act against those who decided to disrupt an official university event.
8.   Clashes between students occurred afterwards on campus and members of the Public Order Policing had to disperse some of them. The situation was stabilised in the early hours of the morning.
9.   Disruption continued this morning (23 February 2016) when students damaged some university buildings, a statue, and broke windows. Additional reinforcements from the South African Police Service were brought in to stabilise the campus. Additional security has also been deployed.

Broader picture
10.   We are very aware of the national crisis on university campuses and the instability currently underway. While the UFS has been largely peaceful, we have not been spared this turmoil, as last night’s events showed.
11.   We are also conscious of the fact that even as we speak, various political formations are vying for position inside the turmoil in this important election year. In fact, part of the difficulty of resolving competing demands is that they come from different political quarters, and change all the time.
12.   We are therefore learning from reliable sources that the Varsity Cup competition is, in fact, a target of national protests in front of a television audience.
13.   And we are aware of the fact that these protests are not only led by students but also by people from outside who have no association with the university. Just as the violent spectators involved on Monday night also included people from outside the university.

The demands
14.   My team has worked around the clock to try to meet the demands of contract workers demanding to be in-sourced. In fact, this weekend past, senior colleagues sat with worker leaders in the township to try to find ways of meeting their demands. We were hoping that such an agreement would be finalised by Monday afternoon (22 February 2016), but on the same Monday morning workers and students were arrested after moving onto Nelson Mandela Avenue, after which the South African Police Service (SAPS) took over as the matter became a public safety concern outside the hands of the university. Since then, it was difficult to return the workers to settle on a possible agreement.
15.   The fact is that the UFS has been in constant negotiation with contract workers to provide our colleagues with a decent wage and certain benefits. In fact, towards the end of last year we raised the minimum wage from R2 500 to R5 000. We were in fact hoping that the continued negotiations would improve that level of compensation even as we looked at a possible plan for insourcing in the future. We made it clear that if we could insource immediately, we would, but that the financial risk to the university was so great that it threatened the jobs of all our staff. Those negotiations were going well, until recently, when without notice the workers broke away and decided to protest on and around campus.
16.   While these negotiations were going on, the Student Representative Council (SRC) on Monday 22 February 2016 also decided to protest. While the vast majority of our 32 000 students were in classes and determined to get an education, a very small group led by the SRC President decided to protest; some invaded the UFS Sasol Library and the computer centre, and with the President eventually made their way to Xerox Shimla Park on which route they confronted the police, interrupted traffic and in fact injured some of our security staff as well as police officials.
17.   The university is definitely proceeding to collect evidence on these illegal and violent acts and will also act firmly against students involved in these protests.

Summary
18.   The events of Monday night represent a major setback for the transformation process at the UFS. While we have made major progress in recent years—from residence integration to a more inclusive language policy to a core curriculum to very successful ‘leadership for change’ interventions for student leaders—we still have a long way to go.
19.   One violent incident on a rugby field and we again see the long road ahead yet to be travelled. As I have often said before, you cannot deeply transform a century-old university and its community overnight. We acknowledge the progress but also the still long and difficult path ahead. We will not give up.
20.   We have 32 000 students on our campuses; the overwhelming majority of them are decent and committed to building bridges over old divides as we have seen over and over again. So many of our students, black and white, have become close and even intimate friends working hard to make this a better campus and ours a better community and country. Like all of us, they are gutted by what they saw on Monday, but the hundreds of messages I received from parents, students, and alumni this past 20 hours or so said one thing—keep on keeping on. And we will.

The Big Read: An assault on transformation (Times Live kolom deur Prof Jonathan Jansen: 25 Februarie 2016)

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