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27 November 2023 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath and André Damons | Photo SUPPLIED
2023 UFS Thought-Leader Webinar Series
Prof Adam Habib, Director: School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), and Dr Max Price, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT), took part in the University of the Free State (UFS) Thought-Leader webinar titled, Student protest action, politics, and higher education. Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, was the facilitator.

The crisis in South African universities is a crisis of the faction fighting in the ANC. 

This is according to Prof Adam Habib, Director: School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), who was a panellist on Tuesday (21 November 2023) at the University of the Free State (UFS) Thought-Leader webinar titled, Student protest action, politics, and higher education.

Dr Max Price – former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT) – was the other panellist, and Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, was the facilitator. This webinar was part of the 2023 Thought-Leader Webinar Series.

The two academics discussed their respective experiences in leadership positions during the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protest movements, the lessons learnt during these tumultuous times, and how these events continue to influence the current landscape in the higher education sector in South Africa and further afield. The discussion also reflected on their respective books – Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall, and Statues and Storms: Leading through change. 

Failed to achieve free education

Prof Habib said the social movements were successful in some areas but failed to achieve free education. “There was a big story about concessions around NSFAS. I would argue that it has as much to do with the protests as it has with the faction fighting within the ANC and the character of the former president.”

“We knew that the concessions made by President (Jacob) Zuma will not resolve the financial challenges, the missing-middle challenge remains and the fact that we have continued protests every year is a sign of that. The university crisis is a crisis of the faction fights of the ANC and until we call it out, we will not be able to deal with it,” said Prof Habib.

Rethink student governance 

He also talked about social struggles turning violent and said there is a romanticisation of violence in South Africa. A hard line against violence needs to be taken, said Prof Habib, and the only way to deal with it is to get the balance right in terms of acculturation and accountability, and proactive behaviour to engage with students and management, staff, and unions about what is acceptable practice and what is not. 

Prof Habib further said that there is a need to rethink student governance: “I don’t mean politics; I mean party politics. Too much of student governance is about the ANC competing with the DA, competing with the EFF. They are fighting universities on policies their political parties created the policies on. Their political parties created the policy infrastructure for the crisis in universities and then they are protesting against it.” 

“I want to be clear – student politics is important; however, student party politics is paralysing our institutions and there is something to be said about how we get student governance to represent the views of students as opposed to representing the views of the political parties. I don’t think we will sort out the problem of student governance until we get political parties out of the student governance of universities.”

Dr Price agreed that ideally, political parties should not contest student government elections. “National party politics neglects the real agenda. It seems that the real agenda of students is to advance the interests of national party politics and sharpen the ANC.”  He also reflected on how national party politics and the split within the ANC played out within the campuses through canvassing to sharpen the ANC, neglecting the real agenda of representing student issues. Nothing the vice-chancellors or management of universities could offer was satisfying, because the main purpose of students was to show up by shutting down universities.

“One cannot stop students from forming a slate representing common interests. However, it is difficult to determine if students form a slate as a front for the interest of political parties,” said Dr Price.

According to Prof Habib, compared to five years ago, R35 billion more is spent on universities, and if universities are not more stable and produce better graduates, this will be happening annually. 

Proactive on strategic issues

Dr Price reflected on whether being proactive as institutions can prevent protest actions, with reference to the Rhodes statue and the fallist movement. According to him, although Rhodes – for example – was on the agenda a year or two prior to the #Rhodesmustfall fallist movement, there was no agreement on taking down the statue, as their judgment was that it would not only be controversial, but also divisive. “The fallist movement tipped the balance and, largely through social media, educated a much larger audience than was ever interested in Rhodes.”

According to Prof Habib, a diverse understanding was and is required about reimagining statues – this is not just about the Rhodes statue, but about many things in South Africa. “Leadership is possible not only when people are on the streets; some kind of proactive movement is possible on big strategic questions. One of them that was long possible was the rethinking of financing universities, which we should not be surprised about. The failure was not that of universities, but instead the failure of the political class who refused to recognise that we were heading for a crisis, although they were told multiple times,” Prof Habib said.

Prof Habib concluded by emphasising that the indulgence of violence is destroying society. “Until progressives and those who claim to be progressives start developing a pragmatic and principled understanding of violence and not romanticising it, we will be in trouble. Structural and physical violence breaks the social pact that underlies democratic societies.”

News Archive

Number of PhD graduates a record for School of Accountancy
2017-06-27

Description: School of Accountancy PhDs Tags: School of Accountancy PhDs

From left to right: Dr Stiaan Lamprecht,
Dr Cornelie Crous, Prof Hentie van Wyk
(Programme Director: School of Accountancy),
Prof Francis Pietersen (Rector and Vice-Chancellor),
Prof Dave Lubbe (Research Fellow: School of Accountancy),
Dr Léandi Steenkamp and Dr Louis Smidt.
Photo: Charl Devenish

This year’s mid-year graduation ceremony for master’s and doctoral degrees saw the School of Accountancy honouring four alumni with PhDs in Accounting on 26 June 2017 at the Callie Human – a record for the School of Accountancy.

Professor Hentie van Wyk, Programme Director of the School of Accountancy and promoter of one of the doctoral degrees, says, “Over the past three to four decades before 2017, no more than five doctoral degrees were awarded by the School of Accountancy.”

Dr Cornelie Crous, Dr Léandi Steenkamp, and Dr Louis Smidt received their doctoral degrees with specialisation in Auditing, and Dr Stiaan Lamprecht with specialisation in Accounting.

PhD candidates’ thesis and personal profiles
Dr Crous, who was born in Bloemfontein on 30 June 1979, is currently working in the School of Accountancy as a Senior Lecturer in Auditing. Her thesis, which is titled ‘Corporate Governance in South African Higher Education Institutions’, influences the application of corporate governance principles in higher-education institutions. It provides a thorough breakdown of the application and disclosure of the application of corporate governance principles in terms of both South African and international best practices in publicly-funded universities in the country.

Dr Lamprecht’s thesis, ‘A Financial Reporting Framework for South African Listed Companies under Business Rescue’, contributes innovative knowledge and insights to the existing body of knowledge on financial reporting.  According to his study, with reference to a listed company under business rescue, there is a need for an underlying financial reporting assumption that varies from the recognised going concern and liquidation assumptions. Users of the financial statements of such a company also require an accounting measurement model based on current values, as opposed to the mixed-measurements accounting model employed at present.

Dr Smidt completed both his master’s and PhD degrees at the UFS. This father of two sons is currently a lecturer at the Tshwane University of Technology. His thesis, ‘A Maturity Level Assessment on the use of Generalised Audit Software by Internal Audit Functions in the South African Banking Industry’, has already started to contribute to the internal audit profession in South Africa and globally.  Due to its existing extension to internal audit functions in various industries in Canada, Columbia, Portugal, and Australia, the value has been enhanced, as it now provides an internationally correlated set of results.

Dr Steenkamp, who completed her Magister in Auditing with a distinction at the UFS in 2013, is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA (SA)), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Professional Accountant (SA), and member of all the professional bodies. Her thesis, ‘The Sectional Title Industry in South Africa: Enhancing Accounting and Auditing Practices’, makes a significant impact on the sectional title industry and the accounting profession in South Africa. The literature review gave an in-depth overview of risks associated with sectional title for various stakeholders (i.e. owners, trustees, managing agents, auditors and accountants, and EAAB-appointed inspectors).

“Indeed a special day for the School of Accountancy!” says an ecstatic Prof Van Wyk. Professor Dave Lubbe, Research Fellow in the School of Accountancy, was the promoter for three of the four doctoral degrees.

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