Chronicle of Higher Education report: Dismissals Raise Fears for Academic Freedom in South Africa
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Today’s News
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Dismissals Raise Fears for Academic Freedom in South Africa
By MEGAN LINDOW
Cape Town
A spate of recent dismissals and disciplinary
actions taken by South African universities
against outspoken faculty members has signaled a
broad erosion of academic freedom in higher
education, academics and civil-society groups
here say.
Much of the negative attention lately has focused
on the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where
academics say they face censorship and
intimidation from an increasingly authoritarian
administration. The most recent example of the
pattern, they say, was the firing last month of
the sociology lecturer and staff-union leader
Fazel Khan, for allegedly “bringing the
university into disrepute” by releasing damaging
information to the news media. Mr. Khan told
reporters that he had been airbrushed from a
photograph in an official campus publication
because of his involvement in a staff strike in
February.
Another professor at KwaZulu-Natal, Evan
Mantzaris, was suspended in March over his vocal
support of another scholar who was banned from
the campus and now faces similar charges of
engaging “in a concentrated campaign to bring
adverse publicity to the university.”
An academic at a different institution,
meanwhile, was sued for defamation by the
University of KwaZulu-Natal’s director of public
affairs, after the professor wrote an open letter
accusing the director of issuing a gag order to
employees ahead of a staff strike last year. A
judge dismissed the case in February.
Although those incidents involved only one
university, they have arisen at a time of growing
concern over the state of academic freedom across
South Africa. Last December the South African
Council on Higher Education, an independent body
authorized by the government, released a report
indicating that state interference was
jeopardizing academic freedom. The report says
that public universities rely too heavily on
public funds, making themselves vulnerable to
political pressure.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal did not respond
to requests for comment. But a spokesman,
Dasarath Chetty, was quoted in the Mail &
Guardian newspaper as saying that, regarding Mr.
Khan’s firing, “by no stretch of the imagination
can the sanctioning of dishonest and unethical
conduct, calculated to project the management of
UKZN as autocratic, be interpreted as a denial of
academic freedom.”
Mounting Pressures
South African universities have faced complex
challenges in recent years, the council’s report
notes. While grappling with dwindling funds and
mounting pressures to privatize services, they
have also undergone complicated mergers intended
to redress historic racial inequalities in the
higher-education system. Some academics say those
difficulties have left universities increasingly
sensitive to criticism.
The trend on campuses also reflects the
increasingly stifling political climate of South
Africa as a whole, as the government attempts to
centralize power and constrain open debate, says
Na’eem Jeenah, director of operations at the
Freedom of Expression Institute, in Johannesburg.
The group has lobbied vigorously in support of
academics, as well as journalists and
civil-society activists affected by similar kinds
of clampdowns.
Universities are “taking their cues from the
broader political environment,” he says. “The
University of KwaZulu-Natal is one of the most
visible and most aggressive in terms of these
kinds of practices, but I think other
institutions are seeing that these things are
possible and will follow suit.”
Last month the University of Fort Hare raised
alarm bells by firing Dieter Welz, a professor of
constitutional law who had been accused of
publicly criticizing the administration in
violation of the university’s apartheid-era
employment policy.
Mr. Jeenah said he had also begun to notice that
some universities were following KwaZulu-Natal’s
lead in aggressively monitoring electronic
communications on their campuses. A draft policy,
unveiled last year, gives KwaZulu-Natal sweeping
powers to read and intercept staff and student
e-mail messages. In theory, the policy is still
in draft form, but some professors report that it
has already been put into practice.
Copyright © 2007 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
Dr Vesselina Merhar
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:20 am
I used to be a permanent staff member at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. I was a Scientific Officer at the Electron Microscope Unit – Howard College campus. In December 2006 I was dismissed from the post I was holding. The main charge against me was gross insubordination because “I have challenged the chain of command by attempting to prescribe the manner in which my Line manager should communicate with me, that is with whom and using what medium”. I was found guilty of this charge, because I dared to ask questions. Any question that I have asked in order to get a clarity about the orders given by my Line manager has been carefully recorded by him and was regarded as challenging of his authority. I should say that very ofter my Line manager was highly aggressive to me. Once he tape recorded conversation despite my objections. Second time he attempted to tape record, but I burst in tears and he left my office. Once, however, I asked him to leave my office since he was extremely intimidating and aggressive to me. For this incident he put a charge against me of aggressive behavior of which I was also found guilty. During the hearing several students and colleagues came to witness in my favor (that I am an excellent supervisor and teacher) but their testimonies were not taken into account. Only the testimonies of my Line manager’s witnesses were considered. Even my subordinate accused me of disrespectful conduct to her because I asked her to perform certain task when she has been busy with another task (I actually was not aware of this). Half year I was waiting for the University to set up an appeal hearing. Unfortunately my appeal was dismissed by the newly appointed Chairperson. After twenty years scientific experience and international recognition for my achievements I am now siting at home without job. I took the matter to CCMA and I am waiting for the outcome.