Part I: An overhaul of tertiary education and regeneration in Africa is long overdue
By Firoz Khan on 12 May 2021
Towards the Regeneration of University and Public Policy in Africa: May tomorrow be more than just another name for today
Introduction: the poverty of theory
It was the occasion of Africa Day, 18
May 2108, at the University of Western Cape – home of iconic liberation struggle thinkers including Neville Alexander, Harold Wolpe and Jakes Gerwel. Students and faculty waited patiently in a large, packed lecture theatre for the keynote speaker, the “white African” intellectual, Ben Turok. The fierce and fearless champion of the poor entered the room to thunderous applause. He looked frail and weak. There was silence. He placed his notes on the table, he paused, he looked at us, and then the lion roared, students roaring louder.
SA travels skedonk route with eyes wide open
By Opinion
By Pali Lehohla
THE OFFICER took one look at my passport and went into a war cry, âAfrique de Sud, Mandela Mandela, Bafana Bafana!â, and without further questions he stamped the passport and we entered Burkina Faso.
That was in August 1997 as the country rode the wave of goodwill Madiba generated and in the wake of the end of apartheid in 1994.
In October 1998 as Madiba was launching the Census â96 Results, he said ordinary South Africans were being feted like kings across the world because of the miracle of peaceful transition that South Africa had achieved. But he cautioned that those in leadership should not disappoint the people who had placed them in this elevated space of respect and hope.
Struggle activist and education expert Graeme Bloch has died
Graeme’s brother Lance took to social media on Friday morning to make the announcement.
Graeme was battling a neurodegenerative disease, according to his brother. He passed away this morning with his wife activist, Cheryl Carolus, by his side.
Bloch lectured at the University of the Western Cape for several years. He was a project manager at the Joint Education Trust and an executive member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and NECC (National Eduction Crisis Committee) in the eighties.
In 2009, he also published his book “The Toxic Mix: What s Wrong with South Africa’s Schools and how to Fix it”, in which he tackled the toxic mix of factors that are causing this crisis, taking government and teachers to task for not performing as they should and highlighting the socio-economic challenges that many learners face.
Research into ongoing failure to address Auditor-General (AG) reports showing persistent state abuse of government funds was initiated by Professor Ben Turok, the founding director of the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) in late 2019, just a month before his death.
Turok was adamant that he did not want “another report”. He did not want examples of all the weaknesses, revealed by the work of the AG. He wanted a developmental project that would change things. This should focus on the role of Parliament as an institution of our democracy, as part of the system of checks and balances, which had clearly gone wrong. IFAA will launch “Checks and Balances: The Auditor-General Project Report” on Thursday 4 March 2021.