OPINION | Fort Hare arson a catastrophic failure of dialogue

It should never take a crisis or destruction for those in leadership to listen. As I stood on the charred remains of the burnt building of the University of Fort Hare, I felt a lump in my throat. The rubble of this historical giant of a university made my heart heavy with sadness.

The events which led to the burning of the buildings at Fort Hare, as witnessed by our recent oversight visit, represents a catastrophic failure of dialogue and a betrayal of a legacy that not only belongs to Fort Hare, but to our nation.

Fort Hare is a living monument, an alma mater of giants such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Rober Sobukwe, to name a few. To see this university reduced to ashes due to a fit of rage is completely outrageous.

Most of us in the parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education were student leaders, and fully understand their frustrations. To simply condemn the spark that lit the fire without understanding what led to it will be of equal failure on our side.

We affirm the constitutional right of students to protest. However, we urge that they exercise this right responsibly, and guard against attempts by individuals or groups intent on diverting their legitimate concerns. Protest should remain peaceful, constructive and reflect dignity and aspirations of the student community.

To see this university reduced to ashes due to a fit of rage is completely outrageous.

The protest was largely sparked by the university’s decision to appoint an interim student representative council (SRC) while amendments to its student governance constitution were being made.

It baffles me why would the university think installing its own “hand-selected” SRC was not going to be acceptable by a majority of students.

The burning of this great public institution is a setback to poor students and, by extension, the university infrastructure development over many years.

This calamity happened at the time when thousands of matriculants were going to start writing their matric exams, and many have applied to study at Fort Hare. Now they’d have some sort of anxiety about having chosen this university.

We’re grateful there were no deaths or injuries reported. The university has lost invaluable infrastructure that is critical for teaching, learning and research, such as the administration building, faculty of science and agriculture, and student affairs offices, which were gutted by fire. The cost of the damage stands at about R250m–R500m.

But the real disease here is the absolute failure of leadership and accountability on many administrative levels. We must hold to account those whose actions and inactions created ripe conditions for this crisis.

Upon our interactions with university leadership, it became clear they’d failed in their duty. Our call for higher education and training minister to invoke the Higher Education Act and appoint an independent assessor is to try find the cancer standing in the way of progress, and cut it.

We need a sober external investigation to untangle the web of governance failures and hold everyone accountable. Fort Hare cannot be trusted to deal with this alone, trust has been broken for this to be an internal matter.

Upon our engagements with the university on October 21, it became clear transparency in governance was non-existent as evidenced by students who are calling for the sacking of the vice-chancellor, prof Sakhela Buhlungu. We learnt that his term was extended without consulting the institutional forum, undermining principles of participatory governance and stakeholder engagement. In fact, council indicated they did not see the need to consult with the institutional forum, which is troubling in itself.

We will not allow the actions of a few individuals to destroy an institution that has given so much to so many. Putting this historic university under administration is not something we recommend, but the path forward requires an uncompromising approach.

As this committee, we’ve always had an unwavering commitment to address legitimate and long-ignored plight of students. We’ve often faced criticism from universities, who accuse us of engaging with them in an “interrogative” manner.

We’ve been reminded numerous times of their institutional autonomy. Yet, I’m reminded of JM Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year, where he aptly observes that “it was always a bit of a lie that universities were self-governing institutions”.

If you look at all the challenges in the sector, the department of higher education and training must take full responsibility for failing to do its oversight at this institution.

During our oversight visits to the sector, we hear a litany of governance issues that erode the trust between the main stakeholders and those entrusted with leading and providing guidance to our institutions.

We urge the administration to reflect on the systemic issues that led to this moment, and commit to meaningful, transparent, and sustained dialogue with students.