Wits leaders

MANY LEADERS HAVE HELPED TO GUIDE WITS AS AN INSTITUTION SINCE 1922. OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR IS A PERFECT TIME TO CELEBRATE WHERE IT STARTED AND WHO WILL BE TAKING US INTO THE FUTURE.

JAN HENDRIK HOFMEYR

THE FIRST PRINCIPAL OF WITS

Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr was born in Cape Town on 20 March 1894, the younger son of Andries Brink Hofmeyr and his second wife Deborah Catherina Boyers. His father was business manager of the newspaper Ons Land and died when Hofmeyr was three. His mother, Deborah, never married again and proved a domineering influence on his life, supervising his eating habits and hovering over his social life. She also encouraged her son to impose stern discipline in the residences and around staff behaviour.

Alan Paton writes in the biography of Hofmeyr that charades were often played at the Hofmeyrs’ home, but “sometimes JHH was asked to abstain because he guessed the answers too quickly”.

IMPRESSIVE MILESTONES

Hofmeyr was a child prodigy. He matriculated at age 12, obtained a first class honours degree at 15 from the University of Cape Town and a first class master’s at 17. At Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar, he was awarded a double first. He became a professor of classics at the age of 22 and Principal of Wits at the age of 24, in 1919.

DRESS SENSE

Historian Professor Bruce Murray noted that Hofmeyr lacked physical presence and style, and captured people’s attention through his command of words. “Appearance did not concern him. He wore ill-fitting, crumpled suits, and cycled each day to Plein Square, invariably emerging at his office with bicycle pump in hand.”

LEADERSHIP STYLE

Hofmeyr was a formidable administrator, displaying great efficiency and “an amazing grasp of detail. He forgot nothing”. Although he was greatly admired by his students, few of his colleagues regarded him as a friend. Academics complained his mother “set herself up as a judge of their morals and she passed judgement and he executed sentence.”

Professor Murray noted: “His academic and administrative capacity was exceptional and his understanding of what a South African university could be was, in many ways, ahead of the times. But he was handicapped by his youth and inexperience, his rigid interpretation of sexual mores and a reluctance to contain his mother’s meddling…”

SCANDAL

Informally known as the Stibbe affair, the scandal involved anatomy Professor Edward Phillip Stibbe and a college typist. Professor Stibbe was an authority in anatomy, who contributed to Gray’s Anatomy and was loved by his students. He was forced to resign under duress as a consequence of action initiated by Hofmeyr and returned to the United Kingdom to further his career. Academics were outraged and animosity towards Hofmeyr increased. The incident is described by Paton as “the most desperate in Hofmeyr’s life”. Hofmeyr wrote to Lady Selbourne at the time:

“Professors and schoolmasters and parsons are most unreasonable people. They magnify specks of dust into rocks of offence and are always for the letter of the law as the endless adjustments and compromises by which life goes on. They set up idols for themselves – we all do that – but they take theirs desperately seriously.”

Hofmeyr left Wits in 1927, but maintained a close relationship with the University.

LIFE AFTER WITS

When Hofmeyr was 29, the then Prime Minister, General Jan Smuts appointed him as Administrator of the Transvaal. He was later elected to Parliament and in 1933 he was given the portfolios of education, the interior and public health.

In 1936, General JBM Hertzog presented his “Representation of Natives Bill”. This proposed to deny black South Africans the vote and appoint white representatives for them, one for each of the then four main regions in the Union of South Africa.

Hofmeyr opposed the bill and said in Parliament: “By this bill we are sowing the seeds of greater potential conflict…This bill says that even the most educated native shall never have political equality with even the least educated and the least cultured white or coloured man.

“I know my remarks will be described as unrealistic… But these are matters on which the future must be left to judge.”

Paton writes: “It turned, as great speeches are able to do, despondency into resolution. Men and women took new courage because Hofmeyr was there…From then on Hofmeyr was the ‘champion of the voiceless’ ”.

In 1938 the Convocation of Wits honoured Hofmeyr by making him Chancellor. On the occasion he said: “Undoubtedly the greatest conflict in the world today is the conflict between the spirit of democracy and the spirit of authoritarianism. In that conflict no University worthy of its great tradition can fail to range itself on the side of democracy…”

In 1940 Hertzog was forced to resign and Smuts asked Hofmeyr to be his minister of finance. During World War II, he was Smuts’s right-hand man. The prime minister loaded him with work and it took a toll on his health.

In March 1946, he spoke at the graduation ceremony. It became known as the “Herrenvolk address”. He said: “Surely it is a mockery for us to talk of ourselves as free people…we are as a nation the slaves of prejudice, we allow our sense of dislike of the colour of some of our fellow South Africans to stand in the way of dealing with them, we let ourselves become victims of the anti-Semitic doctrines which were a most important part of the Nazi ideology that we fought to destroy. The dominant mentality in South Africa is a herrenvolk mentality.”

In November 1948 he suffered a heart attack. The next day he was due to play cricket at the YMCA’s new ground at Bedfordview to declare the ground open. Despite his mother’s opposition, he left for the appointment. He put on his pads, and was walking down the wicket when he fell in pain and later lapsed into unconsciousness.

He died on 3 December and his last whispered words were: “Tell my friends to carry on.”

Sources: Wits: The Early Years (WUP, 1982); Hofmeyr by Alan Paton (Oxford University Press, 1964); Images: Wits Historical Papers

CURRENT LEADERS

BY UFRIEDA HO

Imraan Valodia, Pro-VC Climate Change, Sustainability and Inequality.

Image: Brett Eloff

Q: How do we build strong ecosystems within a university environment that draws together over 40 000 students who mirror a country of diversity and also dire inequalities?

There are three parts to my answer. Firstly, we have to understand that one of the biggest reasons why inequality is such a big problem in South Africa is that there’s so little social mobility for so many people. If you are born into a rich family you will have more chances to succeed than someone born into a poor household. However, universities are the one critical institution that can be a bridge for more social mobility.

The second part is that as a university we have a role to make society aware of these huge inequalities and we should be doing research that supports policy processes to change the patterns of inequality.

And thirdly, climate change and sustainability cuts across of all of this. So we need to bring our expertise, resources and commitment to adapt to these realities. The university has invested in institutions such as the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies because we live in a society that is the most unequal in the world. We need to contribute to solving this problem.

Q: What’s your key strategy for how students can find some common ground as the Wits community?

We need to see diversity as a big advantage. Universities are about allowing difference and different points of view.

Q: We’re at the milestone of 100 years of Wits. Is there something that sticks out for you about Wits that makes you particularly proud?

I only joined Wits in 2014 and before then I was not fully aware of the importance of the university to the broader society.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d change about Wits?

We need to improve our administrative capacity.

Q: Do you have a personal favourite “something” about Wits?

When I was a child I used to walk from Braamfontein station to the Tower of Light where the Rand Show used to be on West Campus. So even now when I do that walk from the tower towards Wits Club it always reminds me of a nice childhood memory.

Ruksana Osman, Senior Vice-Chancellor: Academic

Image: Brett Eloff

Q: What is the relevance of a bricks and mortar university in 2022?

I would argue that it is not about the buildings but rather about the academics and students who engage and interact in these spaces and engage with ideas – not just on academic matters, but about how to navigate and change the world.

The university learning experience includes direct engagement with people who hold different views from your own. It gives access to specialised knowledge and skills which can be tested with an academic community. Importantly it opens up opportunities to consult with others. To my mind a bricks and mortar university is an aspirational site, vital for human flourishing and for inspiring students to become social actors in their communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping all dimensions of life. Universities have to be innovative rather than transactional, reactive and adaptive. To broaden our publics, and to bring into view again our core values of truth, reason and inclusivity to reimagine the University that we want and craft our collective futures together.

Q: What is the one thing university taught you that has stayed with you throughout your life?

Wits in particular has taught me to interact with a diverse range of people, to engage with different ideas, to explore disciplines, and to see the world from multiple perspectives. In my own teaching and research, I have learnt to value the interconnections between knowledge forms and have drawn strength from diverse ways to produce and disseminate knowledge.

Q: University should be about developing critical thinking, especially in a world polarised and flooded with fake news. What’s your “hack” to build deeper critical thinking?

Read everything, access different sources, keep informed, stay abreast of key issues and speak to multiple people before making up your own mind. The ability to discern and to think relationally is something that is becoming more and more important.

Q: What’s the one thing you would change about Wits?

I would create more spaces for students to gather and interact informally.

Q: Do you have a personal favourite “something” about Wits?

There are so many: I often eat at the Matrix to get a sense of the student vibe on the ground. The Education Campus in Parktown is my intellectual home and the Wits Art Museum is special for bringing together different disciplines and for being an inviting space for the public.

Ian Jandrell, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Systems and Operations.

Image: Brett Eloff

Q: Systems and Operations are at the heart of getting and keeping things working, both in a university context and in every ecosystem. What do we need to be doing smarter or differently as a university that has legacy to uphold and also needs to be forward thinking?

Looking just at my portfolio, there are seven directorates reporting to my office, all with high expertise and depth of competence, but we won’t build anything significant unless we work across all the boundaries, and start thinking about building and maintaining systems in a sustainable way.

We cannot simply patch over things. We have to be honest, identify issues and formulate strategies. We need to build a solid foundation for the academic programme so that this university can be the launch pad for our moonshot moments.

Q: The University has become a space that’s both public but also increasingly closed off. What’s the balance for a university that is part of the heart of Joburg?

Over the years the university has become increasingly closed off largely because of the circumstances of the society we find ourselves in. It’s literally to protect ourselves but is also an indictment of the society. It means there’s a greater obligation on the university to reach out into society – in ways that make sense to society.

Q: What’s the one thing from your university days that you have carried with you throughout your life?

I had some unbelievably good mentors. These folks taught me that teamwork is key and success is a team sport. To get people to move in the same direction as you, you must inspire, support and remain humble.

Q: What’s the one thing you would change about Wits?

I wish we had done more maintenance – starting 100 years ago. But we need to reimagine the way we make the campus sustainable, from water and energy, to safety and even the contracts with people who provide food to our canteens.

Q: Do you have a personal favourite “something” about Wits?

I have two; one is just standing on the library lawns – it’s very special to me! The other thing that blows my mind is the incredible work done in lightning research at this university long ago by people like Basil Schonland (1896-1972). [Schonland received the Order of Mapungubwe: Gold for outstanding achievement as a physicist and founding president of the CSIR.]

Lynn Morris: Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation

Image: Brett Eloff

COVID-19 thrust science and research – also the communication of science and research – to the forefront. What are some of your takeaways from our journey for raising the next generation of scientists and researchers to adapt to these changing roles?

Q: COVID-19 has had the impact of making careers in science and research more appealing because suddenly we are seeing the role scientists played out with immediate impact. Vaccines were also being produced within a year.

COVID-19 changed the dynamic and interface of science with the public. There’s an urgency to get things done that has permeated all levels. People are sharing information much more willingly, actively and faster.

But this too should raise the question of why we are not pushing harder in the same way to achieve something like an HIV vaccine.

COVID-19 has also reaffirmed the necessity for clear communication of science and raising a generation that speaks up. It’s been important for students to see the role models within Wits who have been brave to speak out.

Q: What was “the spark” that made you fall in love with the sciences when you were a child?

It was in high school – Hyde Park High; we were given a project to go and research something and collate it into a project. My project was on fungi, and for a very curious child who loved reading and exploring, this was now a good thing. I could express my own ideas, share what I researched and somebody was going to read it and mark it. Essentially it was going into the unknown, with no one directing me, and seeing what I could find.

Q: Is there a bit of Wits history that resonates strongly with you?

It’s the Free People’s Concerts that Wits organised. I remember going to one of these concerts in the early 1980s and hearing Johnny Clegg live for the first time. These were turbulent times with riots and protests and the concerts were hugely symbolic. It was one of the few occasions people of different race groups could gather together.

Q: What’s the one thing you would change about Wits?

Wits must be a much safer space, not just physically, but safer in every single way so people can come here and be who they are, and be accepted.

Q: Do you have a personal favourite “something” about Wits?

I work on the 10th floor of Solomon Mahlangu House. I have a beautiful view but I like to take a walk down over the Amic Deck (which is going to be renamed as part of the centenary celebrations) and buy a sandwich at the coffee shop and sit quietly among the students and soak up all the university activity while listening to the cars go by on the M1 bridge.