E xecutive d i rector, i n yathelo l e adership i n stitute
c h airperson of the i n stitutional Transformation f o rum ( i T f )
P R O f PA u l G R EEN
r e port drafted by m AR k PATER s O N
PrEfacE bY THE VicE-cHancEllor: PROf ChRis NhlAPO
The issues of transformation and social cohesion have been mainstreamed across CPuT’s institutional and governance structures and form an integral part of its strategic planning and vision for the future. however, although the university seeks to support its students and staff in meeting the broad socioeconomic challenges that they may face, it cannot succeed in fulfilling this obligation in isolation. Collaboration among tertiary education institutions and triple-helix partnerships with government, private-sector and civil-society stakeholders is required to produce safe, inclusive and equitable spaces for learning.
accordingly, cPuT collaborated with relevant national government departments to launch its genderbased violence (GbV) policy in 2019;
and worked with the department of Justice and constitutional development as part of a national plan to combat race, gender, class and other intolerances, and subsequently to design a protocol on GbV tailored to the university’s needs. The goal is now to train staff to start to implement this protocol and to ensure that progress to counter GbV becomes a standing item on the agendas of all institutional structures.
This process should be overseen by the institutional Transformation forum in order to ensure that a zero-tolerance approach to GbV becomes an integral aspect of the university’s culture. in addition, the university is supporting a united nations (un) HeforShe initiative to mobilise boys and men in efforts to eradicate GbV as well as encouraging male students and staff to sign an online HeforShe pledge, cPuT is supporting men in becoming agents of change against GbV through its amajita forum. The message being promoted is that GbVe is not only a women’s issue. in a separate development, the university, in partnership with the department of Women in the Presidency, held a conference to support young women in becoming the leaders of the future. The university, with a number of government departments, also convened a panel discussion to consider issues of gender equality and liberation in South africa through the prism of the life of struggle icon, mama albertina Sisulu.
in another initiative, our Student r e presentative c o uncil (S r c ) established c P u T ’s first l G b T i Q a (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexual, queer and asexual) chapter at the university’s m o wbray c a mpus in 2019. The goal is now to mainstream l G b T i Q a policy across the institution. a particular focus is to engage academics who may lack the confidence to explore and challenge discrimination in the classroom – and may even be tagged “homophobic” in their approach. f o rging new platforms and opportunities for engagement on issues of social inclusion, the goal is to provide staff and students with the required tools to address discrimination.
c P u T has also coordinated with the d e partment of i n ternational r e lations and c o operation ( d irco ) , which provided conflict management and mediation training to former members of the S r c and specialist transformation and equity staff at the university in 2018.
c P u T has prioritised social transformation and continues to seek the engagement of leaders within the tertiary education sector, including among TVETs, to share research agendas and initiatives in this field. The goal is for such cross-pollination to make the university smarter as an institution, strengthen its own transformation programme, and promote studentcentred transformation.
Prof chris nhlapo
SECTION
S E TTIN g
T h E Ag E N d A
1.1.
introductory
message from the chairperson of the institutional Transformation forum (iTf)
South africa has witnessed a plethora of student protest action over the last three years calling for transformation at tertiary institutions. many universities in the country have embraced transformation as an imperative that seeks to eradicate colonial, apartheid and imperial legacies, and the cape Peninsula university of Technology (cPuT) is no exception. analysing literature on transformation in South african one is more likely to encounter, but not limited to dialogue on race, Gender, language, local vs Global, curriculum, Pedagogy, names, culture, Symbols, to name but a few. a recent scan of the Mail and Guardian articles on Transformation illustrated the following titles: • There still aren’t enough black professors, despite university transformation attempts.
• UFS Language Policy led to racial tension.
• UCT to rename more buildings
• Urgent strategy needed to decolonise curricula
• Not Open Says Open Stellenbosch
• A riot is the language of the unheard
clearly, there is a need for institutions of higher learning who are responsible for knowledge generation, who are seen as open systems, to create platforms and spaces such as these to encourage academic debate without fear, favour or prejudice and learn from best practices. our university is committed to mainstreaming transformation and social cohesion in accordance with legislation and policies governing higher education. Transformation is a strategic initiative at cPuT and as such resides in the office of the Vice-chancellor and facilitated by the director: Transformation, Social cohesion and diversity.
Historically, transformation was coupled within the Human resource Transformation committee, and due to the credence and extent of transformation which permeates the entire university organ, it became imperative to have a separate structure which focuses solely on transformation and social cohesion. The university’s institutional Transformation forum (iTf) is therefore constituted to fulfil the transformation and social cohesion mandate and includes areas of social inclusion, equity of access, fair chances of success while eradicating all forms of abuse and unfair discrimination and human rights violations. The iTf is comprised of representation of faculties, units,
departments, governance structures and trade unions.
Having a roundtable discussion such as this, saturated with expert knowledge and wisdom, it is envisaged that we:
• Learn and share information on transformation imperatives in higher education;
• Collaborate and network with partners on national imperatives on social justice and inclusion;
• Support initiatives on safe and inclusive spaces to drive transformation in the Western cape; and
• Establish the Transformation learning & development network (Tldnet) to learn, share lessons, best practices and research agendas on transformation related themes.
moreover, it is envisaged that the outcome of the day will result in:
• Institutional Transformation forum of the university to have a common understanding of transformation in Higher Education;
• DHET and Transformation oversight committee to articulate their requirements/ expectations;
• Outline critical areas of transformation imperatives that need further attention;
• Learn, share with other universities, especially the Western cape based universities and TVET colleges – involved in transformation imperatives in HE;
• Network with government, private sector and other sectors on transformation related matters; and
• Produce action plans for implementation.
Prof Paul Green chairperson: institutional Transformation forum
1.2 Transformation regulations and oversight in higher education
The policy proposed by the White Paper outlining “a programme for the transformation of higher education in South africa”, which was issued by the government in 1997, remains in place and is likely to remain relevant for some time. The White Paper set five goals for the education system:
• To promote equity of access, eradicate unfair discrimination and provide redress for past inequalities;
• To meet national development needs through quality teaching and research;
• To support a democratic ethos;
• To advance all forms of knowledge, and address the demands of the local context; and
• To promote development of a single coordinated higher education system with diverse institutional missions and programmes.
although a more integrated approach has been adopted to transform the national education system – the 17 national departments responsible for the sector before 1994 have been replaced by only two now – greater integration within the system itself is still required. The White Paper and the government deliberately provided a loose definition of what is meant by “transformation” on the basis that the higher education institutions themselves possessed the intellectual rigour to define and implement transformation as part of their remit. in this regard, the government’s expectation that universities would be able to take up the issues of what transformation means and how inequity should be redressed – forging their own programmes –has remained largely unmet. The view has been that higher education institutions have tended to wait for a departmental lead rather than taking the initiative themselves.
The closest that the White Paper came to a definition of “transformation” was in its foreword, which noted that the higher education system should be transformed to redress past inequalities, including those based on race, gender and class; to serve a new social order; to meet pressing national needs; and to respond to new realities and opportunities. The White Paper noted that, accordingly, transformation requires: increased, broadened participation; responsiveness to societal interests and needs; and cooperation and partnership in governance.
a Transformation Oversight Committee (Toc) on transformation was established in the wake of the White Paper and a Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions produced under the leadership of Professor crain Soudien in 2008.
The terms of reference for the Toc stated that:
“Transformation involves the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning; the elimination of weak administrative systems, especially at historically disadvantaged universities; the elimination of discriminatory practices based on gender, race, class and historical imbalances; the provision of adequate infrastructure so that all universities can adequately meet their fundamental mandates of teaching, learning, research and community engagement in the context of social cohesion; the expansion and improvement of research throughout the system [in line with the principle that research should be part of the mandate of each institution within the system, including among those which are not research-led]; [and] the expansion of access to university education to many more students”.
broadly, South africa aspires to forge a higher education system that: • Is demographically representative. This should entail individual institutions drafting appropriate race and gender equity policies as stipulated by the Higher Education act (HEa) of 1997 and establishing forums to implement them;
• Provides students and staff with good opportunities for access and success. This entails ensuring that students have a reasonable chance of obtaining a qualification, which constitutes a substantial challenge when a significant proportion of students – as many as 75% in some cohorts – may fail to graduate, let alone find suitable work;
• Welcomes and cares for all. The HEa states that institutional culture should promote tolerance and respect for fundamental human rights and “create an appropriate environment for teaching, research and learning”. in this context, the #rhodesmustfall (#rmf) student protest movement, which was launched in 2016, highlighted the importance of forging inclusive cultural spaces on campus, and naming places and the built environment accordingly;
• Is diverse, differentiated and articulated. in this regard, a recent success story featured a student who started his tertiary studies at a TVET college before later attaining a Phd;
• Is research-productive and drives innovation; and
• Produces educated, critical, employable and effective citizens and leaders for the future.
The Transformation oversight committee (Toc) on university transformation was established to advise the minister responsible for higher education on policies to combat racism, sexism and other forms of unfair discrimination, such as against lGbTiQa people, in the wake of an incident in which black employees had been humiliated by racist white students at the university of the free State (ufS), bringing public attention to bear on the topic of untransformed campuses.
The Toc further sought to provide advice on policies to promote social cohesion and an environment in which all students and staff members could live, study, work and flourish free of constraints
caused by unfair discrimination; and on the role of universities to promote the development of a free, fair and non-discriminatory society beyond the world of academia. in this regard, the higher education system should do more to provide leadership, including by producing the leaders themselves, to help the country as a whole to address key socio-economic issues such as unemployment, as well as challenges of governance within government and parastatals.
The Toc has undertaken a number of actions to monitor transformation with a view to advising the minister on policy and strategies for accelerating the process. The Toc
• Evaluates institutional transformation plans and annual reports; studies universities’ transformation charters with a view to developing a sectoral transformation charter;
• Assesses the impact of language policies on institutional cultures and social integration;
• Conducts visits and engages on a range of transformation issues, such as, access for people with disabilities;
• Advises on the effective handling of complaints in the sector to ensure that they are fairly addressed, balancing the interests and concerns of the individual complainants and the institutions; and
• Liaises with the sector in an effort to provide advice on transformation.
To this end, it has convened an academic conference on transformation; established working relations with a range of relevant structures and institutions; provided input into a number of transformation
policies; and forged tools to track the qualitative as well as quantitative progress made in implementing transformation in higher education. much of the Toc’s work seeks to address the issue of institutional cultures and how people relate to each other within institutions and forge a sense of place accordingly. in this regard, racism, sexism and class discrimination continue to permeate the core academic activities of teaching, learning and research, as well as the social activities and spaces of many of the country’s higher education institutions. Successive reports have indicated that transformation is taking place at a slow pace, which has been acknowledged as a challenge by a number of universities, such as the university of cape Town (ucT) and ufS, indicating the breadth of the problem faced. a number of the historically white institutions remain inherently conservative and resistant to change, and concerns have mounted that too little progress has been made in promoting transformation across the sector. There is a need for institutions to create enabling environments and institutional cultures that are welcoming to all; embody values of democracy; affirm diversity; and uproot deep-seated racism and sexism that are barriers to meaningful participation in learning and campus life.
in relation to the issue of transforming the language of instruction in the sector, the council on Higher Education (cHE) found that while millions of rand had been spent under the apartheid government for the development of afrikaans, ensuring that it was able to function as the main language of
tuition across multiple disciplines in the academy, far less has been spent in the past 20 years on developing other local languages for this purpose, despite the official recognition of 11 national languages. resistance to language transformation in the sector included a case taken by afriforum to the constitutional court in 2019 seeking, unsuccessfully, to overturn a new policy promoting greater linguistic diversity at universities. meanwhile, pressure for transformation of the curricula and modes of knowledge acquisition at universities has mounted. a number of projects have been launched focusing on african scholarship and what it means to be a university in South africa. Persuasive calls have been made for transformation and decolonisation of the curriculum, including by a rejection of Eurocentricism.
in addition to the work of the Toc, the department of Higher Education and Training (dHET) is seeking to support transformation in the higher education sector through its University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) The ucdP provides funds to support transformation in a number of areas that the government is seeking to influence. for example:
• The Staffing South Africa’s universities’ framework (SSauf) supports programmes to nurture emerging scholars;
• Creation of a new generation of academics;
• Enhancing the capacity of existing academics; and
• Developing administrators, leaders and managements in the sector.
individual institutions are invited to identify key scholars, academics
and administrators who may benefit from support to improve their qualifications and gain promotion, which the dHET then agrees to fund. The initiative cuts across core programmes and supports the development of teaching and research, while meeting diversity targets for race and gender.
Strengthening
Transformation in Higher Education
1.3. comments from the facilitator
commitment to transformation has increased among government, universities, TVET colleges and other institutional stakeholders, including from the private sector, with best practices being shared, and research into the issue being prioritised. However, moral and ethical concerns relating to transformation have continued to present a significant challenge and reports produced by the Human rights commission (Hrc) and the commission for Gender Equality (cGE) for the dHET indicate that much progress remains to be made in the higher education sector and society more broadly. accordingly, South africans must consider how they can change their perceptions of each other, creating the spaces to listen to and treat one another with respect. in addition, a number of substantive issues have been inadequately addressed. for example, greater efforts should be made to establish spaces and facilities on campus that cater to all
groups, including lGbTiQa people and those with disabilities.
The mandate and operations of the institutional forums propagated as part of the 1997 Higher Education act need to be strengthened in order to promote transformation as intended. The forums were promoted to review the culture at universities, and to mediate and advise on the selection of senior managers in relation to issues of race, gender and diversity. However, many of the members of these forums have not been properly inducted, and lack understanding of their purpose and how they are supposed to work. in addition, the transformation agenda for the sector must be adapted to take account of changing realities. for example, universities have a significant role to play in addressing issues of climate change and the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SdGs) promoted by the un from 2015.
for students, the deracialisation of higher education institutions relates not only to the decolonisation of institutional structures – such as the senate and the university’s management – and the physical environment of the campus – the buildings and spaces – but also to a class-based struggle for equal opportunity concerned with material issues such as housing and hunger. many students consider that such issues have not been addressed at the core of the transformation agenda. a further concern is that the transformation agenda should seek to forge stronger links between academic studies and the world of work. in a bleak job market, tertiary studies should increasingly be shaped to enhance the employability of graduates, which would make them more attractive to potential
students. in this regard, and in an effort to enhance the broader value of academic studies, the dHET has sought to extend its national transformation efforts beyond the higher education sector to embrace the whole post-school system, including TVETs and colleges, since 2017. accordingly, a new integrated plan with revised targets has been drafted. in addition, a policy shaping how institutions within the sector should respond to issues and incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence is to be promulgated.
further concerns identified by the Transformation oversight committee have included the issue of mental wellness within the higher education sector. in this regard, it has been noted that work pressures relating to studying and supervising can be exacerbated within a system that offers too little support for transformation. in addition, the different demands and expectations of the younger generation affect them and their families in new and different ways.
ms nazeema mohamed Executive director of inyathelo leadership facilitated the roundtable discussion
SECTION
S h A RIN g TRANSFORMATION LESSONS
AN d INITIATIVES
2.1 fundani cEnTrE for HiGHEr EducaTion: cPuT
The fundani centre for Higher Education development at cPuT adopts a practical approach to transformation, scanning the national and international environment to identify initiatives that it may research and pursue. it ontinuously assesses the gains that have been made in this field and how they may be more effectively leveraged. deploying university capacity-development funding from the dHET, the centre engages to facilitate the following:
• Student learning;
• Support for the development of academic and management staff;
• Decolonise the curriculum and pedagogic approaches;
• Promote and support multilingualism across the institution and in its activities; and
• Conduct and publish research into new forms of lear ning and knowledge transfer.
in relation to measurable outputs, the centre has overseen some of the following:
• The induction of 13 new, young academics as part of the nGaP programme. it is now looking to appoint these as it moves into the fifth phase of the initiative.
• A number of current academics have been put forward for participation in the united StatesSouth africa Higher Education network – a programme to expand the country’s doctoral pipeline with the support of american universities.
• Past deficits in transforming administrative capacity are also being addressed as part of a national higher education leadership and management initiative – for example, by leveraging a Phd programme in business administration offered at nelson mandela university (nmu).
However, it is also important to acknowledge that the issue of transformation extends beyond that of the numbers of black students and black staff occupying senior academic and management positions at higher education institutions, however critical these measures may be. The issue is also about employability more generally –creating jobs for people as they exit higher education – which relates to how the economy itself is structured and the dominant forces and groups that continue to shape the balance of power within the national socioeconomic system.
in this context, a key area of focus for the fundani centre is multilingualism – in particular how academic, administrative, symbolic and
ceremonial languages may be made more democratically accessible.
Some achievements include:
• The review of the university’s language policies;
• Language interfaces with specific academic disciplines –particularly in the sciences – and has harvested and translated a range of key, relevant terms, making the concepts behind the words available in other linguistic forms. in the process, it is fostering broader understanding across the student and academic bodies, and greater opportunity for scientific advancement.
• Review how spaces and buildings are named across the campus;
• Integrate African languages into information technology (iT) touchscreens widely used at the university;
• Promote efforts to decolonise curricula; and
• Recognize the crucial role that language plays on the interface of transformation, education and development. for example, in support of a new approach to teaching law, the centre has promoted and published works challenging established, untransformed approaches to jurisprudence, and opening new fields of linguistic enquiry in the field of paralegal studies.
Prof monwabisi ralarala director: fundani
2.2 incluSiViTY and cHanGE uniT: uniVErSiTY of caPE ToWn
The ucT’s framework for implementing Transformation seeks to connect the institution’s academic programme, which focuses on developing new knowledge, ways of thinking and pedagogies, to the university’s social project, which seeks to promote human rights, address issues of privilege, and foster understanding of oppressions. The first pillar provides intellectual depth and the second the human element. in tandem, the two may be leveraged to help forge a number of interdependent strategies to implement transformation. The goal is to produce an integrated kind of praxis, rather than one which is merely compliance-led and disconnected from the university’s intellectual and social pillars.
at ucT, the tasks of implementing decolonisation and multilingualism are managed under separate portfolios. The office for inclusivity and change, which is responsible for disability services, cultural change and addressing issues of sexual harassment and assault, is located in the university’s institutional forum. This body oversees two other fora: one on transformation, which is attended by the Vice-chancellor and key advocates from the various
faculties and departments, and which grapples with issues of inequality and power in an effort to implement systemic change; and another on employment equity. in addition, a number of institutional working groups have been established across the university to advise on and promote transformation.
The work of transformation at the university is guided by a number of key questions formulated by andré Keet. These include:
• The importance of understanding one’s complicity in perpetuating toxic cultures, which have dominated much of recent South african history;
• The need to understand how behaviour is influenced by received prejudices and norms, and to question ourselves accordingly; analysis of how bias may be bypassed and intentionality to achieve change may be achieved;
• The development of appropriate yardsticks to measure transformation.
at ucT, systemic implementation of transformation has entailed analysis of the university’s approach to governance, including relevant policies and procedures, and identification of the capacity and resources required to operationalise change. Six interrelated areas of focus have been identified to implement the university’s transformation framework around issues of:
• Place and space, which includes concerns relating to language;
• Naming, symbols, artworks and identity;
• Owning an African identity;
• Staff and student access, support and success;
• The institution’s response to incidents of discrimination, harassment and violence;
• Community engagement; and
• Curriculum support.
The work of transformation is not localised within one unit at the
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
university, it is institutional, and diverse sectors on the campus are engaged to resolve matters. other approaches adopted across the institution to promote transformation include:
• The launch of an inclusivity survey which will inform the implementation of tailored interventions;
• The development of a tool to identify unconscious bias and racism; and
• Improvement of the system to respond to, and prevent, genderbased violence.
• The university has also identified a need to work with academic partners to improve responses to systemic racism and raise the profile of work to promote institutional cultural change. in addition, it is seeking to implement monitoring and evaluation to measure quantitative and qualitative progress in achieving transformation.
informed by ucT’s experience, the Transformation development learning network (Tdln) being established by cPuT may find value in considering:
• The structures and processes that are most responsive to systemic racism;
• Increasing the focus on new kinds of intervention to counter genderbased violence on campus;
• The extent to which compliance with the rubric on equity genuinely produces demographic change and a greater sense of inclusivity and belonging within institutions;
• How African traditional practices may best be accommodated in a modern context in a way that does not compromise traditional practices but also ensures safety;
• The extent to which students and academic colleagues from the african diaspora are being included and made to feel welcome; and
• The extent to which South African universities are responding to sub-Saharan challenges, including the prevalence of xenophobia in South africa.
dr Sianne alves director: inclusivity and change: university of cape Town (ucT)
2.3 THE rolE of THE ombudS officE aT ucT
ombud’s offices at universities, which are funded by the dHET, can have an important role to play in relation to transformation. ucT is one of only eight South african universities with an ombud’s office and it is recommended that the dHET, with the support of the better-resourced higher education institutions, should push for the other universities to establish such offices. at ucT: • Academic, support staff and students are encouraged to approach the ombud if they are dissatisfied with how institutional polices are being implemented, or if they feel they have been treated unfairly and/or their rights have been violated.
• The ombud reports to the Chair of the university council and is independent in her handling of complaints, which are treated in confidence.
• The work of an ombud can be highly sensitive, often touching on issues of mental health among complainants, as well as entrenched bias within systems.
in this regard, it is crucial not only that the ombud operates independently, but that they are seen to do so without fear or favour. no one at the institution should be able to say that the ombud is “my friend”.
Part of an ombud’s mandate includes the following:
• Engaging in institutional policymaking.
• May provide negative feedback to complainants alleging that policies have not been followed and that they have received unfair treatment.
• Not all incidents are covered by institutional policies. in particular, policies are unlikely to cover issues that have not previously arisen. However, at the same time, precedent may be used in some cases to defend the status quo unfairly. in this regard, precedent may be used to oppose an ombud’s recommendations for organisational and/or behavioural change. for example, a student may complain that the mark they have received is too low (and is effectively denying them access to a job upon graduation), but the department responds that it cannot adjust the mark on the basis that such condonation contravenes established policy.
• However, further investigation into past custom and practice, including through the registrar’s office, reveals that there have been condonations in the past.
on this basis and in this case, the department is forced to reverse its decision and grant condonation since it is evidently only fair.
ms Zetu makamandela-mguqulwa ucT ombudS
2.3 THE rolE of THE TranSformaTion manaGEr’S forum
after 25 years of often paying little more than lip service, it is important that universities take
sought to position and resource transformation efforts for maximum effect, whatever the particular structure that has been established at the university. in pursuit of its goals, the Tmf has developed the Transformation barometer that seeks to engage the commitment of individual university councils in the pursuit of four common goals.
• The first goal is to promote inclusive, cohesive institutional cultures that make all people feel welcome. universities should be required to demonstrate the establishment of such a culture.
• Second, universities must promote equity and redress.
further meeting of the Tmf is planned to highlight this issue.
• Fourth, universities must foster ethical governance. This should entail helping to build a new cadre of student leaders, for example, by encouraging them to join a wider range of university committees. The country needs a new generation of leaders to foster more national development, including by addressing corruption.
The Tmf has also increasingly recognised the importance of ensuring that transformation at
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
universities is properly resourced. annual operating budgets for this work range from about r600 000 million, producing distinct approaches to transformation. The amount and kind of funding and resources made available both indicates and shapes the value attached to transformation work at the various universities.
range of funding sources have been tapped. Some universities seek to leverage skills and training funding, although such budgets are context-bound and may not be used for some kinds of transformation work. Some universities also offer funds for strategic redress. in the absence of properly resourced and funded initiatives, little progress is likely to be made. Given that the pace of transformation remains slow, new ways of accessing further resources and funds to accelerate the process need to be identified, while existing ones should be exploited more comprehensively.
mr George mvalo chairperson: Transformation manager’s forum: uSaf
2.4 afriKoloGY uniT of THE durban uniVErSiTY of TEcHnoloGY (duT)
Established in 2005, the institute of afrikology is an offshoot of The Karaites institute of afrikology which was founded in 2001 under the leadership of struggle veteran and former black consciousness movement (bcm) leader, Kgalushi drake Koka. afrikology is the multi-disciplinary, integrated study of african history, culture and experiences. Guided by an ethos of continuous examination of oneself and others, the institute researches the rules of engagement for promoting and implementing african renaissance initiatives, engaging and learning from, rather than dictating to, local communities which have always been engaged in this transformational work.
The institute is guided by the promotion of Pan-african engagement. it is guided by the words of struggle stalwart Winnie
madikizela-mandela, who said: “i no longer have the emotion of fear. There is no longer anything i can fear.” in this spirit, the work of transformation cannot be conducted timidly and should always be practical in its orientation. it is also important that it should be led by civil society, independent from government departments control. in particular, civil society’s role in fostering social inclusion must be recognised. Such inclusion may best be promoted through a collectivised consciousness. for example, in rwanda, the words “remember, renew, restore” are widely emblazoned on buildings as part of the country’s nation-building efforts in the wake of the genocide of 1994 in which about 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
by contrast, South africa remains divided by a plethora of voices, often talking at cross-purposes. for example, an underlying complaint expressed by students during the nationwide #rhodesmustfall and #feesmustfall (#fmf) protests that broke out in 2016, was that they were fundamentally misunderstood. in this regard, it is important to acknowledge that social cohesion efforts in South africa should not seek to build one homogenous nation out of the country’s residents, but should recognise the diversity of the parts that form that whole. in addition, social cohesion should act as a bridge to local, provincial, national and continental unity; serve as a means of recompense and redress; be an adhesive for national growth and development; and be a force for transformational change. at the same time, South africa’s internal cohesion is unsustainable unless it is linked to africa’s destiny and supported by people-led regional integration that continuously challenges inequity
based on issues of race, class and gender. meanwhile, as a relatively new democracy with a history based on racial segregation, the slow pace of change in addressing issues of human rights, such as health, education, justice, equality, housing, xenophobia, racism and poverty, threatens South african nationbuilding. in seeking to foster social cohesion, the institute of afrikology employs a “past-present-future” paradigm: in order to go forward, you must know where you have been; and at the same time, you cannot speak about the past without acknowledging present trauma. it is acknowledged that everyone has experienced trauma at some point in their life, and that africans will continue to talk about their pasts as part of communal healing processes. Within the higher education system, properly funded work to address the trauma experienced by black students, including at the universities themselves, is required. Graduates who can produce innovative solutions are crucial to efforts to transform society. To facilitate the production of such graduates, trauma centres should be established at universities, where students are encouraged to come and tell their stories. for example, the institute of afrikology at duT has created a space for students to come in and record their narratives as they see fit without having to feel judged.
in pursuit of a more socially and economically inclusive community and country, the afrikology approach proposes a number of key principles that should be followed:
• Nguzo saba or unity – the goal is a principled togetherness for mutual benefit based on equality, reciprocity and friendship;
• Kugichagulia or selfdetermination – asking a number
mrs Yaa ashantewaa K archer-ngidi director: afrikology institute: durban university of Technology
of fundamental questions (Who am i? am i all i should be?), the goal is to foster self-conscious people who can forge the future;
• Ujima or collective work and responsibility;
• Ujaama or cooperative economics, which entails building, maintaining and profiting from businesses according to the practice of shared wealth;
• Nia or purpose – that is, nationbuilding that takes pride in and expresses africa’s historical and cultural identity;
• Kuumba or creativity – the goal is to improve african communities; and
• Imani or faith, which is a belief in the capacity of africans to act righteously and create good, just societies.
The principles of afrikology should inform how all african children are educated. universities should offer a new kind of pedagogy that engages students instead of talking down to them; fosters creativity; and offers spiritual enlightenment, while decolonisation may be found in the efforts of students and academics to conserve their african-ness. in this regard, the youth should be encouraged, as advised by pioneering pan-africanist and Ghanaian independence leader Kwame nkrumah, not only to look forward, but also to look back and give thought to what they must finish for the last generation.
They should also realise that leadership is a conscious process, a choice that must be made. martinican political philosopher and revolutionary frantz fanon gave warning that africans should not copy the example of Europeans and thus become “obscene imitations”. They should rather have faith in themselves; their
leaders; their teachers; their parents and grandparents; their communities; and their history, and dare to free themselves politically and culturally –in which case they will win.
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
2.5 HEarinGS and findinGS on HiGHEr EducaTion TranSformaTion
The vision adopted by the South african commission for Gender Equality (cGE) is of a society free from all gender oppression and inequality. Given the long-term nature of this goal, sustainability is a key principle guiding the commission’s work. The cGE seeks to implement its vision through a number of strategies, which include:
• Research;
• Public education;
• Policy development;
• Legislative initiatives; and litigation.
in pursuit of its strategies, the commission’s most prized value is its independence. Gender dynamics shape the nature of everyone’s daily experience in society and can lead to oppression and inequality. accordingly, after the introduction of democracy in 1994, the South african
government decided to establish the cGE as one of a number of institutions founded under chapter 9 of the country’s new constitution to hold government, private sector and civil society bodies accountable for their obligations, as outlined in the constitution.
The cGE’s mandate is defined in the commission of Gender Equality act of 1996 and is also shaped by South africa’s obligations under a number of internationally agreed instruments, including the convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women (cEdaW), the Sadc (Southern african development community) declaration on Women, the african union (au) Protocol on the rights of Women in africa, and international labour organisation (ilo) conventions.
The commission recognises that there are particular african practices that need to be addressed in promoting gender equality. in this regard, the african instruments provide a useful balance to some of the other international conventions, such as cEdaW. under the commission of Gender Equality act, the cGE is mandated to monitor and make recommendations on government policies and practices, existing laws, and compliance with the relevant international conventions. in considering adherence to present law on gender equality, it may recommend that new legislation be implemented. The cGE is further mandated to:
• Develop and manage education programmes to foster gender equality;
• Investigate and seek to resolve matters and complaints relating to gender;
• Engage civil society and other organisations promoting gender equality; and
• Report directly to Parliament on its work.
broadly, the problems encountered by cGE in its work as part of the national gender machinery are not found in any lack of commitment on the part of the government to address gender equality issues, or in the direction promoted by national and international policies in this field, but rather in the implementation of the policies and in the practices that may be found on the ground more generally.
The cGE views gender as a crosscutting issue that has an impact across society and the economy, including in the world of work, and it has accordingly undertaken to monitor the impact of affirmative action on employment levels concerning historically disadvantaged groups such as women and disabled people and, to some extent, designated racial categories. it also seeks to promote gender-sensitive policies and practices within the world of work more generally. it holds individual institutions to account for their constitutional obligations to promote gender equality.
in this context and following a number of well-publicised cases of oppression on the basis of gender at universities, the commission held a series of hearings on gender transformation within higher education from 2014. The cases, which were covered by national media, concerned academics exploiting their authority to sexually abuse their students. in addition, a number of people in the sector had approached the commission directly
ms Sixolise ngcobo Provincial manager: commission for Gender Equality (cGE)
with complaints of harassment and a lack of transformation.
broadly, the hearings considered issues relating to some of the following:
• The abuse of students by those in power;
• Employment equity among university academic and administrative staff; and • (The lack of) inclusion in the services and facilities made available on campus, in particular to lGbTiQa people.
in addition, the focus was not so much on the universities’ policies, which were often quite comprehensive, but rather on problems in implementing them, with a number of senior managers seeking to claim that the policies did not apply to them. The hearings were held on a formal legal basis, with the cGE referencing the country’s legislation on labour relations; employment; skills development; employment equity; equality; and black economic empowerment. cGE collected data from the universities, often in the form of their responses to a semistructured questionnaire.
Vice-chancellors were then required to attend the hearings, make presentations and testify under oath or affirmation in response to questions put to them arising from this data and the cGE’s own enquiries. They were afforded the opportunity to put their side of the story. other stakeholders from within the university were also required to give evidence. Vice-chancellors could not delegate their attendance at these hearings to another manager or furnish inadequate testimony –for example, in the form of a short PowerPoint presentation.
after the hearings, the cGE made further enquiries as necessary and then analysed all the information which had been collected. it presented its findings in the form of a report with recommendations to the national assembly. The report was then distributed among the dHET, the ministerial Task Team, the Employment Equity commission (EEc), the department of labour (dol) and Parliament through the quarterly reports of the cGE to the Portfolio committee on Women. These hearings had been held at 16 universities by 2019.
The information provided in the hearings affirmed broader findings in relation to employment across South africa which include:
• That women are still being marginalised in the workplace despite the country’s progressive legal framework for gender equity.
• There are too few women in senior management and academic positions, and too few strategies to recruit women, mentor them and retain them in such posts.
• In particular, few women rise to the level of senior decisionmaker, winning a seat on the university council or becoming Vice-chancellor, or are supported at this level if they do.
• In the absence of a proper understanding of gender dynamics in the workplace and a failure to ensure an environment in which women may thrive, there is a high turnover among female staff.
• It was found that some women professors are so traumatised within the workplace that they lose hope of pursuing a career at this academic leve,l and are
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
either forced or enticed to leave.
• Although black women enjoy proportionally fewer opportunities than white women, sexism appears to be a greater obstacle than racism in the university workplace, where male privilege persists across racial groups and knows few boundaries.
• The discrimination against women extends beyond their marginalisation in the university’s socio-economic and governance structures.
• Violence against women is an everyday reality on campus. in this regard, the #feesmustfall protests revealed many of the challenges faced by female students on campuses where a “rape culture” is accepted as normal. for example, some groups of male students believe that if a female student does not have a boyfriend, she is available to be sexually harassed and even attacked.
• The entrenchment of this “culture” is exacerbated by a lack of student orientation and staff induction programmes to promote gender diversity and equality; and inadequate policies and practices to address sexual harassment and sexual violence and offences.
• In addition, a lack of institutional engagement on issues of lGbTiQa inclusivity poses a major challenge.
2.7 diScuSSion on SomE PrioriTY concErnS for TranSformaTion
following the presentation, there was an engagement on various issues. Key issues that dominated the discussion include the following:
2.7.1 student-university relations
• The dynamics of universities’ engagement with students and of students’ engagement with their universities, including through the Student representative councils (Srcs), have shifted significantly in the wake of the #fmf protests.
• Students, who sit on an increasing number of governance bodies, now play a crucial role in shaping and transforming the institutional cultures of their alma maters, including those of the residences. However, major cultural concerns persist around preparing and supporting students properly to engage fully in the benefits of a university education. in particular, greater efforts need to be made to welcome, include and nurture young black students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds at the university.
• The nature of universities’ engagement with parents has shifted, with many parents, particularly those who are making a significant contribution to the payment of tuition fees, seeking a say in their childrens’ higher education. in this regard, universities should consider carefully how best they can communicate that they are now taking over the duty of care for these students from their parents, and how that pastoral role may
best be implemented. one idea is to hold an induction celebration which parents may attend.
• As the outlook and demands of students continuously shift from one generation to the next, so the universities need to evolve as institutions capable of communicating with their students and meeting their changing needs.
• The institutions’ programmes and policies, particularly for helping new students to orientate, should be crafted accordingly. universities must also acknowledge and respond to the symptoms of trauma that are evident among a significant percentage of their student cohort and which have led to suicide in some cases. Such trauma may subsist deeply, and may be triggered by a number of actions and situations.
• Accordingly, universities should ensure access to wellness centres for students, and consider other kinds of support that may be provided.
• In addition to the material challenges that many students face, such as hunger and inadequate accommodation, many also face issues around socialisation, bringing damaging sets of behaviours from their home and community environments. When these behaviour patterns are addressed, it can also produce positive effects for the communities from which the students come, upon their return home.
• In the aftermath of the #FMF protests, efforts need to be made by both the universities and the students to find common cause in addressing their respective issues. in this regard, Src
representatives and other student leaders should take greater care of the actual problems experienced by individuals within the student body.
• The restoration of relationships between the students and the academic/ management body should also address the hurt that has been experienced by some senior academics and university leaders, as well as the need to support university staff and workers on the ground.
Participants raising issues from the floor
2.7.2 Gender inequality and masculinity
Harassment of, and violence against, women, which takes place on a daily basis on campuses and across the country, is being enacted within a patriarchy characterised by a hostile, alienating masculinity. in this environment: female academics and students are undervalued as a matter of course, and sexual assault is commonplace. male irresponsibility and entitlement are promoted among boys and men who have been brought up and continually cared for by women and, literally, allowed to dominate the conversation, excluding and silencing women. a number of actions may be taken to counter these attitudes and change this behaviour; and ensure that power and the capacity to shape socio-economic development is shared more equally among men and women. depatriation could be introduced into the school curriculum. rites of passage, led by men who have “been to the mountain”, may be introduced within the culture of universities and further education and training (fET) colleges to foster more responsible young men, educating them about accountability and the importance of realising the consequences of their actions, and promoting their spiritual growth. Senior male and female academics and managers should act as role models to male and female students in promoting gender equality among them. in addition, higher education institutions should continue to collaborate with civil society and government agencies around the promotion of gender equality; and to produce effective collaboration in response to sexual assaults, including through the establishment of appropriate support structures for the survivors of such violence.
it was also mentioned that the centre for the Study of Violence and reconciliation (cSVr) provides psychosocial services within communities that may provide a model for support that could be offered at higher education institutions.
2.7.3 institutional and systemic challenges
The institutional organs responsible for driving transformation should be placed at the heart of their organisations in order to drive their agendas effectively. for example, at cPuT the responsibility for transformation is located within the Vice-chancellor’s office. However, in some higher education institutions, little or no budget is allocated to fund the structures established to implement and oversee transformation. in such cases, it would appear that these structures have been set up to fail. other issues include:
• The lack of support for transformation, including to promote gender equality; • Affording students of the best possible socio-economic opportunities upon graduation, is experienced particularly strongly at the TVET colleges. in some ways, these colleges are treated as the poor cousins of the higher education institutions within the tertiary sector – they are not as well-funded and, with much closer accountability to the national government, they lack the managerial autonomy enjoyed by the universities. meanwhile, although the government’s policies to promote gender equality and counter gender-based violence apply to the whole post-school system, relatively little has been done
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
to implement transformation at the TVET colleges, which have only relatively recently started to establish their own governing councils.
• In this regard, the commitment to articulation across the postschool sector should include collaboration with the universities to promote transformation efforts, in particular through the provision of capacity-building and training for TVETs, as well as through the establishment and funding of joint programmes and forums.
SECTION
SURVEY OF TRANSFORMATION PRIORITIES 3
3.1 conTExT
The participants who attended cPuT’s Transformation roundtable discussion were each asked to flag how their knowledge and understanding of transformation had been broadened by the meeting, as well as their priority concerns for further work on transformation in the higher education sector. in response, significant numbers of participants at the roundtable noted that they had acquired a greater understanding of:
3.1.1 The role of the ombud at universities, including the principles underlying this role and the powers associated with it.
• A number of participants sought the establishment of such an office at cPuT.
3.1.2 Gender inequality and gender-based violence at universities, as well as the role of south Africa’s gender machinery.
Participants flagged a number of issues in relation to GbV, including:
• The need for institutions to report on GbV complaints and how they are responding to these;
• The difficulty of obtaining positive outcomes for claimants in GbV and sexual harassment cases;
• The importance of taking a broad view of the relationship between patriarchy and GbV in all its complexity in order to address the issue properly;
• Continuing male privilege and dominance and the need to address sexism at universities;
• The generally unchanged status of black women within higher education; pay and salary disparities based on gender;
• The need to measure and monitor progress on transformation relating to gender equality/ pay/ promotion and
GbV; and
• The need for a clearer and comprehensive explanation of the cGE’s findings from its data on the 16 higher education institutions that it has engaged so far.
3.1.3 The links between transformation work and Afrikology.
Participants flagged a number of issues in relation to this, including:
• The need to address the development of indigenous languages as the means of instruction;
• The need to strengthen African ideologies at universities, and introduce programmes that offer affirmation for people of colour at these institutions;
• The importance of Africanising and decolonising higher education, including the curriculum, to ensure more democratic epistemological as well as socio-economic access;
• The need for all university stakeholders, including academics and students, to take responsibility for transformation issues and policies; and
• The importance of speeding up and systematically addressing the decolonisation of education as a whole.
3.1.4 The importance of fostering increased and faster transformation with the support of university staff.
To this end, participants identified the need to:
• Shift the institutional culture of the university’s administration and of individual faculties to commit to and embrace transformation;
• Run staff development programmes and discussion
Strengthening Transformation in Higher Education
platforms to promote awareness on transformation initiatives, particularly among younger academics;
• Promote research into transformation as a scholarly subject so that the praxis can be informed and implemented by the academics themselves as part of their core work; and
• Establish effective communication to inform staff about transformation, social cohesion and diversity initiatives.
3.1.5 The need to promote social cohesion at higher education institutions on a daily basis. in the context of continuing inequality within higher education, participants noted how the curricula within universities, particularly in the humanities and arts, could be better used to facilitate social inclusion. in addition, participants focused on a number of issues facing students, including:
• The importance of making transformation student-centred, with greater engagement from Srcs, and not just a matter of academic concern;
• The need to establish inclusivity offices at every university;
• The need to support students and the marginalised in speaking out against people in power;
• The importance of the discourse on student trauma and healing, which has been introduced in the wake of the #feesmustfall protests;
• The need to conduct more research on, and devote sufficient resources to, the promotion of wellness for both students and staff, including through conflict resolution, peace-building and healing;
• The establishment of student support programmes that
CPUT
are properly staffed with psychologists and social workers;
• The creation of new fora for students to express their concerns; and
• The need for universities to make everyone feel welcome, including people with disabilities and the lGbTiQa community.
3.1.6 The importance of promoting and raising awareness of transformation at TVET colleges with the support of the government and universities.
To this end, participants noted:
• The need to capacitate gover nance structures and empower Srcs at the colleges.
• In particular, the government should issue directives to support effective implementation of transformation at TVETs, which have so far largely been sidelined in the agenda for the transformation of the tertiary education sector.
3.1.7 The need to adopt new approaches to produce systemic change in support of transformation.
Participants recommended the following:
• Analysing present policies for addressing gender- and raciallybased discrimination within the higher education system, including those within the Education White Paper of 1997 on transformation.
• It was suggested that these policies be judged against the findings of the South african Human rights commission on the implementation of transformation in the sector.
in this regard, it was noted that, although many of the required policies
to promote transformation had been established, they existed as largely “performative” statements of intent, with the policymaking deflecting attention from the lack of actual implementation. at the same time it was noted that, without political will, implementation was unlikely to be effective; and that approaches driven by a genuine concern to forge inclusivity were more likely to achieve the desired impacts than those driven by mere compliance with top-down policy directives.
Participants also stressed the importance of:
• Properly planning and resourcing the implementation process;
• Promoting tangible outcomes with timelines; and
• Monitoring and evaluation to measure and assess the impacts of the actions taken to produce transformation and inclusion.
To this end, it was recommended that:
• Data on all reports and cases of gender- and race-based discrimination and violence be disaggregated to inform the targeting of transformation policies and practices;
• Individual higher education institutions report back regularly on the impact of their transformation efforts, contributing to a national Transformation barometer.
• Participants stressed the importance of integrating transformation as a goal into universities’ institutional structures with appropriate delegated financial and human resources.
3.1.8 improving and communicating CPuT’s transformation efforts.
Participants noted that the unique culture and ethos underpinning the university’s transformation agenda and efforts,
• Promotion of community engagement,
• The university should identify and resolve any policy gaps in meeting its obligation to transform the institution, as well as any capacity and funding needs.
3.1.9 Networking among higher education institutions and with civil society stakeholders to promote transformation on campuses and beyond.
Participants sought a further twoday workshop on transformation which would allow more room for panel and plenary discussions. it was agreed that such a meeting would offer an ideal forum to practice the principle of collectivity underpinning the establishment of the iTf at cPuT, and of the broader Transformation learning and development network. it was noted that greater student engagement in the discussions needed to be fostered. in terms of forging the Tldnet, it was recommended:
• A number of practical steps to foster more effective collaboration needed to be taken;
• Documenting and sharing best transformation practices in a comprehensible and easily accessible form;
• Critical need for collaboration with civil society organisations and other gover nment in promoting transformation within the institutional culture of universities; and that, accordingly;
• It may be beneficial to fund nonuniversity initiatives around social cohesion and transformation.
SECTION
SAFE ANd
4.1 conTExT
Safe and inclusive spaces are places where students and staff feel safe, respected, and comfortable being themselves and expressing all aspects of their identities. These spaces recognise the creativity and innovation that arise from bringing different cultural perspectives together and cultivating the unique contributions of all. Empirical evidence suggests that university environment sometimes reinforces discrimination and gender inequalities, and encourages violent, unsafe and exclusive spaces. These harmful spaces are detrimental to learning and teaching and have serious physical and mental health effects.
universities are expected to provide targeted intervention and support, so that students can learn to effectively deal with conflicts, stress and injustice in order to become successful in the classroom and in the outside world. They need to offer psycho-social space, support, and a safe and inclusive space for their
community to enhance conducive learning and administration. These safe and inclusive spaces help prepare students and staff from diverse backgrounds and give them a sense of belonging and support to be able to face life’s challenges in healthy ways. These spaces are where university community could find practical solutions to the challenges.
The reported incidents of genderbased violence, gender inequalities racially offensive comments, cyberbullying and a range of discrimination and human rights violations on campuses seem to present a picture of lack of transformation and social cohesion in higher education.
in instances of gender bias, female students normally feel uncomfortable in class and student life, which contributes to drop outs and hindering of academic success. Particularly in classes with sex ratios that heavily favour male peers, women may experience “a chilly climate”, including use of sexist language, presentation of stereotypic and/or disparaging views of women, differential treatment from professors, and sexual harassment.
in other instances, students experience racial bias in areas such as the residence, classroom and student environment in general. Sometimes, they feel they are taken less seriously than others.
a number of lGbTQia students reported cyber-bullying and harassment on campus. These students suffer symptoms of emotional and physical distress, including headaches and loss of appetite. compared with heterosexual students, lGbTQ students are more likely to perceive
the campus climate as less welcoming.
4.2 HEforSHE: Engagement with men and boys
The HeforShe campaign, which was created by un Women as a solidarity movement across gender, provides a systematic programme to engage men and boys in becoming champions for gender equality. The campaign confronts challenges faced by the institutions and academia in the workplace and in promoting gender equality. inviting men and boys to build on the achievements of the women’s movement as equal partners, the campaign aims to mobilise 1 billion men. Since its launch in 2014, hundreds of thousands of men have joined, and the campaign has been the subject of more than 2 billion conversations on social media. Ending violence on campus has been identified a critical issue in the campaign, which has been championed by a number of universities globally, including the university of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South africa.
The higher education institutions championing the programme have agreed to:
• Increase the proportion of women in leadership positions to at least 20% by 2020;
• Ensure that women reach senior academic positions, whatever their discipline; and
• Set up HeforShe promotion committees.
cPuT signed up as a HeforShe advocate in october 2018. in South africa, the HeforShe campaign aims to reach 20 million men and boys
ms agness Phiri Partnership Executive: un Women
by 2020; engage and inspire the population on the issue of gender equality via social media; and produce 10 million commitments to the programme by 2020.
in order to produce safe and inclusive spaces at universities, the change must come from below. Gender equality cannot be achieved without creating safe spaces for students and staff which should ensure:
• No gender-based violence and sexual harassment;
• No discrimination based on race, ethnicity, economic status, religion or sexual orientation;
• Career equality;
• Freedom of expression; and
• The right to meet and/or protest as groups.
The HeforShe campaign seeks to identify allies and foster collaboration
– for example, among key academic and student leaders – to scale up engagement in its goals. To this end:
• Local champions may set monthly targets for the numbers of men that should be signed up.
• At CPUT, the initiative may build on the university’s existing commitment to the practice of gender equality.
• In addition, the programme seeks to acknowledge student initiatives that promote safe spaces for female students.
deploying a strategy that emphasises the importance of agency and urgent action – if not me, who? if not now, when? – the programme invites men to take a pledge, under which they promise to become:
• A man who takes responsibility for his actions;
• A man who will not participate in, approve of, or remain silent about any form of violence;
• A man who chooses to be an active bystander who will speak out about violence against women and girls;
• A man who will encourage all men to work together to use their collective voices and resources to end all forms of violence;
• A man who teaches those in his care the values of human dignity, equality and respect;
• A man who supports his partner and protects his children;
• A man who respects all women and never lifts a hand to any woman; and
• A man who knows that the choices made tomorrow will shape whether tomorrow is seen.
it has been acknowledged that the provision of safe and inclusive spaces, particularly for women, is crucial to the implementation of transformation.
TOWAR d S A h I g h E R
E d U CATION INSTITUTION
RESEARC h A g E N d A
F OR g E N d E R-BASE d
d
One in three women globally will experience physical and/or sexual violence by a partner, or sexual violence by a non-partner, according to the world health Organisation (whO). in Africa, the proportion is 36%. women exposed to intimate partner violence are almost twice as likely to experience depression and have alcohol-use disorders. They are 16% more likely to have low birth-weight babies and one-anda-half times more likely to acquire hiV and/or contract a sexually transmitted disease.1
a total of 42% of women abused by their partners suffer injuries as a result; while 38% of murdered women are reportedly killed by their partners.2 in 2018, african women were more than twice as likely to be murdered by an intimate partner as they were elsewhere.3 in South africa, the rate is
even higher, with three women a day being killed by an intimate partner.4 The statistics provide a compelling reason for championing the prevention of violence against women.5
To address the challenge, women’s experiences of higher education needs to change.
• Young women on campus at cPuT and at TVET colleges have identified social marginalisation as a risk factor leading to gender-based violence and discrimination, and vulnerability. in addition, they have identified a number of policy gaps at their institutions, including in relation to women’s needs after they have been sexually assaulted.
• Campuses must be made more secure for women.
• To this end, safe spaces, which may be required in emergencies, and dedicated facilities should be made available.
• In addition, the issue of inadequate policing on campuses must be addressed. at present, the security forces on campus are often proponents of insecurity, posing a threat to young women.
• Equality before the law and in its implementation should be fostered as a fundamental principle. Greater efforts need to be made to enhance personal and collective responsibility on campus.
• Students and staff need to protect themselves and each other; and vulnerability to a range of threats – including date rape and drug
abuse – must be reduced.
• Curriculum changes are also required to support women. in this regard, the empowerment of women through integration of their issues into the curriculum should be promoted, including by teaching the importance of supporting human rights. in general, the curriculum should help to create solidarity and promote feminist perspectives among women.
a theory of student integration developed by american higher education sociologist Vincent Tinto in 1993 notes that students who become part of their campus academically and socially are more likely to stay in their study programme. The theory proposes that students enter universities with a number of intentions, goals and commitments, often shaped by their family and educational background and their skills and abilities, which may or may not align with those of the institutions they have joined. in this regard, the students have both academic and human cultural needs.
Their personal, normative integration with their institutions is shaped on the academic side by their academic performance and interactions with staff and faculty members; and on the social side, by extra-curricular activities and peer-group interactions.
if there is misalignment between the student’s goals and commitments and the institution’s, the student is more likely to leave the university.
1 World Health organisation (WHo), london School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine and South african medical research council, Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence (Geneva: WHo, 2013).
2 ibid.
3 un office on drugs and crime (unodc), Global Study on Homicide: Gender-related killing of women and girls (Vienna: unodc, 2018), p.10.
4 michelle faul, “3 women killed each day in South africa, world’s worst gender violence”, associated Press, march 8, 2013.
5 This section is based on a presentation made by dr navin naidoo, Health & Wellness faculty: cPuT, at the Transformation roundtable discussion, cape Town, 30 april 2019.
dr navin naidoo Senior lecturer: Health & Wellness: cPuT
CPUT
Students can leave for a range of factors which may precede their time at university. in addition, students tend to commit suicide for the same reasons that they decide to stay at a university despite a misalignment of individual and institutional rationales.
The stresses that inform a student’s responses to their environment may have been shaped over the course of their lives. They may previously have experienced domestic and/ or gender-based violence as a daily phenomenon.
Students who have been subjected to such everyday terrorism may “act in” – that is, harm themselves – or act out – hurt others. in response to this legacy of trauma, universities need to engage in wellness creation, otherwise known as salutogenesis. This practice entails offering students a sense of institutional coherence, within which they may wish to engage meaningfully with their environment, identify and understand their own behaviour and find the resources to manage the tensions that can arise in their social interactions.
in support of this practice, universities should seek to help develop the assets for health and well-being. However, the reality is that although such issues may be addressed in social science studies, the universities as institutions and their curricula do not comprehensively address them. Pockets of excellence can exist within the higher education systems to promote salutogenesis but there is little support for an academic trajectory that prioritises the importance of how people relate to each other. in this regard:
• It is crucial that young people be trained to manage themselves and others.
• The university as an organ of
social justice has a responsibility to invest in social capital with the particular aim of helping to build coping and other mechanisms among the cohort that can break the cycles of violence.
• Such investment produces broad collective and economic benefits.
• The preventative approach is also cheaper and more effective than incarceration and perpetrator rehabilitation, which have poor outcomes.
• It is also more effective than efforts to control physical entrance to the university more strictly, as if the danger is an external one, when the reality is that, since universities are institutions reflecting the values of the broader society, the threat may well come from within.
in this regard, it is also important to shift the focus from just the victim and the perpetrator. There are many other people who may adopt a range of positions in relation to acts of gender-based violence: from active complicity to passive support for the perpetrator; and from expressing outrage to taking action in defence of the victim. in addition, other students could benefit from wider recognition of the problem of gender-based violence. denial of the risk of such violence, which can take the form of victimblaming, can prevent universities from taking appropriate action to promote greater security and prevent individual students from acknowledging the dangers that they face.
The reality in South africa is that:
• Sexual coercion is widespread, especially in social and romantic relationships;
• Intimate partner violence in relationships is the biggest problem;
• There is widespread hostility
and violence towards gays and lesbians and men perceived as effeminate;
• Perpetrators often rely on positions of institutional power;
• More than 90% of incidents of gender-based violence and sexual harassment are not reported;
• Such violence is generally impulsive and/or an expression of social norms rather than planned in advance; and
• Most forms of violence stem not from failures on the part of security services, but from the normalisation of violence in societal relationships.
The character of much genderbased violence is that the victims, who are either fearful or emotionally and/or socially connected to the perpetrator in some way, often either blame themselves or fail to see the violence as unacceptable. meanwhile, the perpetrators, who are often in a position of institutional or social authority, as well as bystanders, view the violence as acceptable. in this context, the crime-and-punishment model which emphasises conventional securocratic responses – more guards; closed-circuit television surveillance; better lighting; the investigation and prosecution of offenders – is both inadequate and a denial of the kind and source of the violence, which is largely other students and the staff. rather than merely policing deviance, the goal should be to shift the underlying social norms and values that shape behaviour. although offenders should be held to account under the law, there is a need to move from an authoritarian model for responding to gender-based violence, to a more participatory democratic one, which could be achieved at universities.
one strategy would be to provide core academic training for all students, which would include a course to teach men how to be non-violent. Such a course would entail critical thinking and reflection on values and practices, examining inequality, exploitation and prejudice, and showing how patterns of violence can come to be justified. it would also explore how to deploy conflict resolution, non-violence and democratic social values.
other actions that may be taken to promote gender equality and counter GbV include:
• Establishing institutional mechanisms to reduce violence; improve safety; and develop, implement and evaluate interventions;
• Providing accessible, trusted, high-profile integrated support services for victims;
• Training security staff to deal with interpersonal violence;
• Refocusing student counselling to introduce social interventions rather than merely offering private support for the victim;
• Creating effective peer support and activist networks;
• Preventing abuse of authority by university staff; and
• Challenging institutional norms that justify abuse.
a university’s failure to take such actions would indicate its selfimposed limitations, as well as a kind of complicity. it has been found that violence emerges at the juncture of social inequalities between dominant and marginalised groups. Thus, when universities act as faceless bureaucracies, which, by their nature, tend to seek to maintain existing, unequal distributions of power, they can actually exacerbate victimisation and hinder care interventions.
Strengthening
in order to foster the kind of institutional change that is required at universities, those who want to turn the tide must become the dominant voices in the discourse. one way of achieving this is by promoting a critical sociology which challenges the structures that promote inequality, and thus the violence that follows. in this regard, the student voice, which has generally been missing or undervalued in the discourse, must be given greater weight. a key hope for enhancing care within higher education institutions may lie in promoting approaches based on a democratic process, mutual respect and non-violent management of conflicts of interest. accordingly, the emphasis on campus may increasingly shift from improving victim-support services to preventative education strategies. Since the measure of success is whether the energy to create change has actually achieved the desired impact, the long-term goal must be to implement interventions that will interrupt violence, challenging and shifting the social norms that produce it, and providing alternatives in the pursuit of social justice.
REPORTIN g PROTOCOL
ON g E N d E R-BASE d
VIOLENCE: A CASE STU d Y F OR CPUT
The goal adopted by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in producing a draft reporting protocol for gender-based violence at CPuT was to enable the forging of a document and process that met the university’s needs and was practically implementable. The procedure was developed in coordination with key stakeholders at the university to ensure that a draft was produced that would be accepted by, and would thus foster accountability among, staff and students on the issue of gender-based violence.
Guided by an understanding of CPuT’s actual operations and organisational structure which covers a number of campuses, faculties and departments, the draft protocol proposes a process of incremental implementation. A particular concern in producing the document was that the recommended reporting structures and processes should be capable of being replicated in all parts of the institution. The draft reporting protocol for GBV is now awaiting the buy-in of the university’s senior management, including department heads.
The proposed protocol emphasises the importance of considering the
Strengthening
range of scenarios that should be addressed and the various reporting processes that would need to implemented, as well as the range of support services that may need to be activated in response. it advises that different reporting processes need to be established for genderbased violence perpetrated against a student by another student, or a staff member or an outsider; and for GbV perpetrated against a staff member by a student, or another staff member or an outsider. The reporting processes also need to be mindful of the type of offence that has been perpetrated. for example, different processes would be followed in relation to an allegation of hate speech and an allegation of assault, which is a criminal offence.
The draft procedure indicates that reports of incidents can be made in person, by telephone or electronically. in each case, nodes for receipt of the report have to be identified, and systems for managing the reports and activating follow-up services have to be implemented. in activating the support services, a number of issues around personal safety, medical care (on- and off-campus); transport; psycho-social provision to deal with trauma; and legal processes need to be considered and managed appropriately. for example, in activating legal processes, it may be necessary to ensure effective coordination between internal disciplinary procedures and external actions, such as police investigations and prosecutions, so that neither impedes the other.
cPuT should consider how the relevant services should be activated in a range of scenarios, and draft step-by-step processes to provide clarity for everyone involved, including the victim. for example, in the case of an incident involving an allegation by one student against another, a number of issues would need to be
addressed in terms of how and to whom the initial report should be made; how this should be further communicated and to whom, which may depend on the kind and seriousness of the alleged offence; and the kinds of decisions to take action that may then need to be taken and how the victim should be involved in these. for example, it may be recommended that the victim visit an external rape centre, which would entail engagement with social workers and counsellors. broadly, cPuT must determine the kinds of support it provides for the process in terms of staff, resources and training.
The nPa has recommended that an incremental, three-phase approach for the implementation of a GbV reporting procedure offers the best chance of effective implementation.
during the first phase:
• When reporting nodes have yet to be established across the institution and the buy-in of all the relevant actors has not yet been won, all reports should be made to the staff of the campus Protection Service, who will be trained about the seriousness of GbV and what it entails, and how to investigate incidents.
• Over a six to nine month period, appropriate protocols for the activation of follow-up services will be established within the campus Protection Service.
• A database for managing the information from the reports received by the service will be set up, and a mechanism to share this information with a senior university manager will be established.
• There will be a clear differentiation in the treatment of incidents based on the kind of alleged offence and whether internal and/or external processes should be followed.
adv lizelle africa national Prosecuting authority (nPa)
CPUT
in the second phase:
• A number of nodal points should be established across the institution for students and staff to report incidents.
• Nodal points for students may include: residences; the student health clinic; student development officers; the disability unit; student counsellors; the HiV/aids unit; and the Src for staff, they may include employee relation departments and trade unions.
• Relevant individuals at these nodal points will be identified and trained to receive the reports and activate the appropriate services.
• These advisers will have written guidance which they can use to explain the different processes to the complainant and help them choose a course of action; and they will be held accountable for how they manage complaints.
• The information to hand will include contact numbers and details of all relevant individuals and agencies that may become involved in the process.
• All cases must be handled with appropriate care and sensitivity at the reporting stage. for example, if someone has been raped and must be removed to a place of safety, how should this be arranged? Where would they like to go? and would they be most comfortable with the institution or the police taking them to the place of safety?
during the second phase, which will last six to nine months:
• A workshop would be held with the senior managers of the proposed nodal points in the departments and faculties to secure their buy-in and accountability, and to guide what processes are practical and implementable.
• Meanwhile, all reports of incidents would be shared with the campus Protection Service,
which will continue to provide regular feedback on these to a senior university manager.
• This feedback should help the university to identify where the greatest challenges in relation to GbV exist, and how these may best be addressed.
The third phase of implementing the reporting protocol would broadly entail:
• Involving and equipping designated departments within faculties as nodal points to broaden the scope of reporting.
• In producing an effective GBV reporting procedure, a number of challenges need to be addressed.
• For example, appropriate agencies need to be identified to transport victims off campus as required.
• Although campus security staff could be made responsible for this, it is important to assess their capacity to provide the service properly, as well as their liability.
• The guiding principle should be to forge reliable, foolproof processes that ensure the victims are not placed at further risk.
• One option would be to extend cPuT’s existing contract for the provision of emergency services to victims of GbV.
other issues include:
• A shortage of lay counsellors to provide trauma debriefing and long-term support to victims of GbV, as well as the need to identify where such counselling should be located.
• In addition, action would need to be taken to promote the reporting procedures.
• Such awareness-raising could be implemented as part of an orientation week; via noticeboards, email and social media; and through advocacy conducted by academic staff.
• The initiative to introduce a
comprehensive, effective protocol for reporting GbV at cPuT is aligned with national work to promote safer universities. in this regard, although actions have been taken to raise the issue of GbV within individual faculties – for example, at cPuT, as part of a programme to promote student wellness and produce ethical leaders – it is important that they should be discussed and implemented at the intra-institutional level, taking account of existing governance structures. This is a particular concern given the patriarchal nature of some of the structures at the university – such as faculties, the campus Protection Service and the Src – which may seek to respond to the issue of GbV.
The problem is very real, given that it may be a lecturer or Src representative who is alleged to have committed the assault. austerity in managing the university poses a further challenge to implementing adequate responses. another important concern in promoting the protocol is that female students should not be represented as mere victims – either of violence, or of a reporting process that is not guided by them. The agency and activism of female students should be encouraged on campus, and they should be seen to be leading efforts to address GbV, which would set an example for how they should have a greater voice both on campus –for example, on the Src and the university council – and in the wider world.
SECTION
7
OBJECTIVES ANd TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR
The establishment of the TldNet for the western Cape finds its roots in regional collaboration on transformation, which dates from a 2002 agreement by vicechancellors as part of the Cape higher Education Consortia (ChEC) to promote academic cooperation in strategic areas. Among other goals, the agreement sought to foster regional collaboration within a restructured national higher education system that was “sensitive to historical realities in promoting equity across its institutions”.
in taking this collaboration forward, a number of key issues and themes relating to transformation, many of which have been incorporated and promoted in national, regional, continental and international instruments, have been placed on the agenda, including:
• Human rights and social justice;
• The need to combat racism and xenophobia;
• Gender inequality and genderbased violence;
• A greater role for women and
girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEm) subjects; the establishment of safe university spaces; and the promotion of inclusion for people with HiV
in terms of implementing transformation, the agenda includes:
• Promoting: academic and research collaboration;
• Promoting transformative-based learning and development;
• Forging collective responses to national policies and legislation, including in relation to gender;
• Producing transformation and social justice targets;
• Jointly establishing a monitoring mechanism for institutional transformation and social justice matters; and
• Providing opportunities for growth for, and empowering, young researchers; and coordinating meetings and discussions.
The Transformation roundtable discussion was held with the particular goal of producing collaboration among the universities and the TVET colleges in the Western cape to consider transformation concerns collectively. representatives from northlink and false bay colleges participated.
The students from the universities and colleges, who may often share transport and accommodation arrangements, face many similar challenges – and the institutions that host them should accordingly share initiatives, practices and research agendas to promote transformation for their benefit.
it is also important that government, civil society and private-sector partners are engaged in the work of transformation, particularly since a
number of core challenges extend beyond the campus gates. for example, students go home at the end of term, taking their experiences of university life with them. Those who have been the victims of assaults will require support; and a national referral system should be established to provide this. in addition, non-academic and academic staff, including junior researchers who may be particularly vulnerable, should be able to access support beyond the campus as required. Partners in the network include non-profit organisations (nPos) such as inyathelo and cSVr; the chapter 9 institutions; national convening bodies such as universities South africa (uSaf); and international stakeholders such as un Women.
broadly, the goal is to produce coordinated advocacy for the establishment of transformation and social justice programmes in the areas of race, gender and class, addressing intolerance and harassment in relation to gender, disability, HiV status, citizenship and other grounds. The network seeks to engage in three main areas of activity on campus: staff and student life and experiences; knowledge production, including the curriculum, research, pedagogy and community engagement; and africanisation, which includes transforming institutional culture, identity, symbols, and the naming of buildings.
beyond these institutional priorities, Tldnet’s focus in cape Town and the Western cape is to produce and implement a 10-year plan that aligns the imperatives of cPuT’s Vision 2020 with those of the provincial government’s Vision 2040 in relation to their shared social transformation and inclusion
ms nonkosi Tyolwana director: Transformation, Social cohesion & diversity: cPuT
objectives. The network will consider how the provincial higher education consortium and government can collaborate to foster socio-economic systems that can effectively address issues of social cohesion, violence and crime. To this end, efforts will be focused on helping the provincial government to achieve four of its long-term objectives to: improve education outcomes; increase wellness; increase safety; and promote social inclusion.
beyond the province, the Tldnet aims to align itself with national, continental and international goals for sustainable, inclusive development. in terms of South african strategic imperatives, the national development Plan (ndP) seeks a country managed by an ethical state, where past inequities have been redressed and human rights are protected, and people can live safely and access equitable employment opportunities. in the higher education sector, the plan focuses on increasing postgraduate enrolments through research partnerships; doubling the number of postgraduate scientists and increasing the number of african and women graduates and academics; creating a learning and research environment that welcomes everyone; and transforming the demographic composition of research.
in southern africa and the continent, thenetwork seeks to contribute to the socio-economic challenges of the region as a collective, paying particular attention to the developmental, governance and cultural goals forged by Sadc and the au at the university level, these include the development of human capital and a research infrastructure that can address societal challenges.
Strengthening
internationally, the network seeks alignment with the SdGs, including SdG five on gender equality.
• In pursuit of its objectives, TLD network will engage in a number of activities. These include:
• Driving the creation of safe, inclusive spaces, for example, through the establishment of pilot projects;
• Promoting professional transformation practices;
• Implementing leadership coaching and mentoring for transformation;
• Engaging in research and development; helping to decolonise the curriculum; and
• Producing journal articles, opinion pieces and other published outputs. Students should be partners in these activities – for example, in writing opinion pieces or in mounting campaigns to meet their needs more comprehensively, such as through the broader provision of health services.
The Tldnet will seek to hold quarterly meetings and support symposiums on transformation held by tertiary-sector partners, such as northlink. The network’s advocacy calendar should be linked to these meetings and annual commemorations, such as national Women’s day; and informed by the network’s research agenda. in particular, the meaning of the annual national holidays should be restored through events that celebrate the progress that has been made and has yet to be made in transforming the country. resources will need to be found for the research and advocacy work and to foster the networking. The report from the Transformation roundtable discussion and associated publicity
should be used to encourage internal and external stakeholders to resource and capacitate the network properly.
broadly, the Tldnet is seeking to move the higher education sector beyond its silo, and promote the idea that universities and other tertiary institutions have a larger responsibility as part of the broader socio-economic ecosystem to promote equitable, inclusive development, particularly through the production of student leaders who can chart the country’s future path. in this regard, student engagement is crucial to the project. in addition, in order to lead the way in taking the transformation agenda forward, the Tldnet must achieve actual impacts. This can only be achieved by supporting research that reveals the actual shape of the current challenges faced. for example, at cPuT, which hosts 25 000 students, a number of lecturers are aware that many of the cohort are suffering and may provide coffee and bread at their classes to help support them. but the actual scale and complete nature of the problem – where the students are sleeping; the number of those who are homeless and living on the streets; and how they eat –remains unknown.
ACRONYMS
Au african union
ChEC cape Higher Education consortium
CEdAw commission on the Elimination of discrimination against Women
CGE commission for Gender Equality
CPuT cape Peninsula university of Technology
dhET department of Higher Education
diRCO department of international relations & cooperation
