Director of Publications: The Council for the Development of Social Science Research Numbers 3 & 4, 2015 ISSN 0850 - 8712 Alex Bangirana in Africa (CODESRIA) is an independent organisation whose principal objectives are to facilitate research, promote Managing Editors: research-based publishing and create multiple forums Osime Samuel Mamadou Dramé geared towards the exchange of views and information Editorial among African researchers. All these are aimed at Professor Sam Moyo, a Great Intellectual, and a Great Leader Typesetting: reducing the fragmentation of research in the continent Daouda Thiam through the creation of thematic research networks that cut across linguistic and regional boundaries. New Executive Committee Members Printing: Polykrome, Dakar, Sénégal CODESRIA publishes Africa Development, the longest Tributes to Professor Sam Moyo standing Africa based social science journal; Afrika Zamani, a journal of history; the African Sociological Review; the African Journal of International Affairs; Africa Review of Books and Sam Moyo: Speeches from the Archives the Journal of Higher Education in Africa. The Council also co-publishes the Africa Media Review; Identity, Culture and CODESRIA 14th General Assembly Politics: An Afro-Asian Dialogue; The African Anthropologist, Rethinking CODESRIA’s Future, Fatima Harrak For contributions and enquiries, Journal of African Tranformation, Method(e)s: African Summary Report of CODESRIA 14th General Assembly, Ibrahim Oanda Review of Social Sciences Methodology, and the Afro-Arab please write to: Imagining and Creating the CODESRIA of Tomorrow, Fatima Harrak Selections for Social Sciences. The results of its research and To talk or not to talk to terrorists, Ken Walibora Council for the Development of other activities are also disseminated through its Working Social Science Research in Africa Paper Series, Green Book Series, Monograph Series, Book Series, Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x Canal IV Policy Briefs and the CODESRIA Bulletin. Select CODESRIA Reports publications are also accessible online at www.codesria.org. P.O. Box 3304, Dakar, Bandung+60 Conference Report, Ebrima Sall CP 18524, Senegal Speech at World Social Science Forum 2015, Dzodzi Tsikata Tel: +221 33 825 98 22 / 23 CODESRIA would like to express its gratitude to the Fax: +221 33 824 12 89 Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Declaration of the 3rd World Social Science Forum (SIDA/SAREC), the International Development Research Honorary Degree for Professor Takyiwaa Manuh Centre (IDRC), the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur E-mail: [email protected] Academic Freedom Still Matters! Carlos Cardoso [email protected] Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Norwegian Web Site: www.codesria.org Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA), Debates the French Ministry of Cooperation, the United Nations Trends and Issues in the Social Sciences and Humanities, Ebrima Sall Development Programme (UNDP), the Netherlands Ministry Black Pain Matters: Down with Rhodes, Francis B. Nyamnjoh of Foreign Affairs, the Rockefeller Foundation, FINIDA, the Scars of Memory and Scales of Justice, Babere Kerata Chacha Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Open Society Foundations (OSFs), TrustAfrica, UN/UNICEF, The Human Project and the Temptations of Religion, Lansana Keita the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the Government of Senegal for supporting its research, training and publication programmes.

This quaterly Bulletin is distributed free to all social research institutes and faculties in Africa to encourage research co-operation among African scholars. Interested individuals and institutions may also subscribe. © Council for the Development of Social Science Contributions on theoretical matters and reports on conferences and seminars are welcome. Research in Africa 2015

Codesria Bulletin-3&4_2015-OK.indd 1 10/12/2015 15:03 Contents

Editorial Professor Sam Moyo, a Great Intellectual, and a Great Leader 1 New Executive Committee Members 3 Tributes to Professor Sam Moyo 5 Sam Moyo: Speeches from the Archives We are proud that CODERIA has Sustained itself over the Decades 26 The Political Economy of Transformation in Zimbabwe: Radicalisation, Structural Change and Resistance Sam Moyo 28 CODESRIA 14th General Assembly Rethinking CODESRIA’s Future: Priorities to Conside Fatima Harrak 39 Summary Report of CODESRIA 14th General Assembly: Creating African Futures in an Era of Global Transformations Ibrahim Oanda 42 Imagining and Creating the CODESRIA of Tomorrow is a Preoccupation for each one of us Fatima Harrak 59 To talk or not to talk to terrorists: That is the question of these unhappy times Ken Walibora 60 Reports Bandung+60 Conference Report Ebrima Sall 61 World Social Science Forum 2015: Transforming Global Relations for a Just World Dzodzi Tsikata 62 Declaration of the 3rd World Social Science Forum 64 Sussex University Confers Honorary Degree on Professor Takyiwaa Manuh, Former President of CODESRIA’ Scientific Committee 65 Academic Freedom Still Matters! The Case of Maati Monjib and Nuno Castel-Branco Carlos Cardoso 66 Debates Trends and Issues in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Africa Ebrima Sall 69 Black Pain Matters: Down with Rhodes Francis B. Nyamnjoh 74 Scars of Memory and Scales of Justice: Rethinking Political Assassinations in Post-colonial Africa Babere Kerata Chacha 94 The Human Project and the Temptations of Religion Lansana Keita 98

Codesria Bulletin-3&4_2015-OK.indd 2 10/12/2015 15:03 CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 1

Editorial

Professor Sam Moyo, a Great Intellectual, and a Great Leader

ust as we were preparing this bulletin for publication, the I’ll sing praises of Sahara, that unites the continent extremely sad news of the passing on of CODESRIA’s As you did Jformer President, Professor Sam Moyo, reached us. Professor Moyo was in New Delhi, India, to participate in a I’ll pontificate on Sahara, that embraces civilizations conference on "Labour Questions in the Global South". The As you preached and practiced vehicle in which he was travelling got involved in a crash on Friday, 20 November, and Sam died in the early hours of Sunday I know this is not a poem, nor a flowery prose 22 November 2015. Porojo it may be Professor Moyo has been an active member of CODESRIA since Who cares? the 1970s. He was elected Vice-President of CODESRIA in 1998, and during the 12th General Assembly held in Yaoundé, Cameron It’s for my friend and comrade in December 2008, was elected President of CODESRIA, a For my compassionate companion position he held until December 2011. Sam was a great intellectual, a great leader, and an institution builder. He was Straight from my heart and soul renowned for his diligence, commitment to research and Yes, it’s for my friend and comrade scholarship, as well as his immense sense of humour. He was also well known as a relentless crusader and untiring advocate For, he lives" of social equality and justice. He will be sorely missed by the Indeed, Sam lives on! entire social science community in Africa and in the Global South. th This edition of CODESRIA Bulletin features some tributes in his In this issue, we also report on CODESRIA’s 14 General honour. Issa Shivji’s poetic tribute captures the sense in which Assembly held in Dakar, 8-12 June 2015. The General Assembly his colleagues and compatriots understood the timelessness of was, as expected, a gathering of a cross section of the CODESRIA his contribution to African development: membership, who include some of the best scholars, researchers and respected academics from all over Africa and the Diaspora. "I come not to mourn you, Comrade The theme of the scientific conference of the General Assembly I’ll shed no tear, my friend was "Creating African Futures in an era of Global Transformations." The themes of the scientific conference of I refuse to say ‘pole’; to say ‘sorry’ the triennial CODESRIA General Assembly usually reflected the Why should I? dominant concerns of the moment. The need for the structural transformation of the African and world economies that have I refuse to bury you been built upon and are exacerbating social inequalities and How can I? environmental problems is now very widely recognized.These days, the concept of "transformation" is, in fact, so widely used For you live that it ought to be critically examined. The CODESRIA and the You live in me UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Journal of African Transformation launched during the CODESRIA You live in many across the globe General Assembly has the ambition of becoming the platform Who loved you for such debates, many of which are now closely linked to debates about the trajectories of our economies and societies, Whose lives you touched and about possible and desirable futures. At a time when the Whose hearts you cuddled African Union (AU) is deploying efforts aimed at building "the Africa We Want", which is what the AU’s Agenda 2063 is about, Whose minds you tickled and as the United Nations System was actively working towards I come to celebrate your living, Comrade the adoption of a new, post-2015 global development agenda whose aim, it is argued, is to build a "World We Want", the I’ll toast to your ideas, my friend African research community could not have chosen a better Over a glass of sahara, and a plate of ‘nyama choma’ theme for the scientific conference of its 14th General Assembly. In Rose Garden, in Sao Paulo, in New Delhi Social science has been, and will continue looking at CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 2 transformations in their complexity, "historicizing the present", The "Debates" section of this edition of the bulletin carries but also examining representations of the future. The critical interesting debates on some contemporary issues in Africa. In analysis of societal projects (of all scales) and of the narratives his insightful piece on "Trends and Issues in the Social Sciences and counter-narratives framed around them is indeed part of the and Humanities in Africa" Ebrima Sall looks at key issues to normal business of social science. This issue of the bulletin consider in any serious review of the state of the social sciences carries a summary of the presentations, debates and resolutions and humanities. He looks at the institutional base for knowledge emanating from the General Assembly, as well as the profiles of production in Africa and how it has been evolving. He relates the new Executive Committee members elected at the General the complexity of the institutional landscape in Africa to the "six Assembly, led by the erudite Dzodzi Tsikata as President, who Cs" identified by Paul Zeleza which include; corporatisation of took over from Professor Fatima Harrak. The election of Professor management, collectivisation of access, commercialisation of Tsikata as the fourth woman (out of the last five Presidents) to learning, commodification of knowledge, computerisation of be elected to the position in the last 13 years does say something education, and connectivity of institutions. As part of his about gender in the life and work of CODESRIA. conclusion, he makes a strong case for multi-disciplinarity, inter- disciplinarity, and trans-disciplinarity in confronting the various Also in this issue of the bulletin is a report on a commemorative challenges on the African continent. conference of the Asia-Africa Conference first held in Bandung in April 1955. The Bandung Conference marked the birth of the Francis Nyamnjoh’s article "Black Pain Matters: Down with Non-Aligned Movement, and what has come to be known as Rhodes" looks at issues of race, racism and marginalisation in the ‘Bandung Spirit’. The commemorative conferences were held South Africa against the backdrop of organised student protests in Jakarta and Bandung in April 2015 and October 2015. which rocked South Africa universities, unleashing a renewed Participants in the October conference included many scholars clamour for transformation in higher education in that country. and activists from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. CODESRIA In "Scars of Memory and Scales of Justice" Babere Kerata was represented by the Executive Secretary, Ebrima Sall who Chacha, draws attention to the menace of political assassinations attended the conference with Fatima Harrak, immediate past in post-colonial Africa and underlines the urgent need for justice President of CODESRIA. and tolerance as well as an end to impunity by the political class. Lansana Keita’s piece on "The Human Project and the We return to the theme of transformation. The World Social Temptations of Religion" reflects on the relationship between Science Forum (WSSF) was this year held in Durban, South science and religion and raises several interesting issues on the Africa, in September 2015 and was as usual organized by the reliance on faith in explaining religious phenomena among International Social Science Council (ISSC) and co-hosted by adherents of the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and CODESRIA and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Judaism. of South Africa under the patronage of UNESCO. The Forum focussed on: "The transformation of global relations for a just We end the tributes to Sam Moyo with some of his papers. world". It was a significant gathering of scholars and policy- As Nana Busia says in his tribute, "scholars of the stature of oriented intellectuals drawn from all the regions of the world Sam never die". Indeed, Sam lives on! and across different disciplinary interests in the social sciences and humanities. The Forum provided "a platform for presenting new knowledge and insights, re-thinking received wisdom, charting new directions, promoting innovation in the research- policy-action nexus, and nurturing new international Ebrima Sall partnerships". This bulletin brings you closing remarks by Executve Secretary CODESRIA’s President made at the closing ceremony of the conference as well as the Conference Declaration. Alex Bangirana Head, Publications New Executive Committee Members

President of CODESRIA Vice President of CODESRIA Dzodzi Tsikata is an Associate Nkolo Foe is Professor at the Research Professor at the Institute Ecole Normale Supérieure of of Statistical, Social and Economic Yaoundé 1. He was also former Research (ISSER) at the University Head of Department of Philo- of Ghana where she has worked sophy, after working at the since 1991. She holds a Ph.D in Institute of Human Sciences Social Science from Leiden Uni- where he was Head of Research. Nkolo Foe Dzodzi Tsikata versity in the Netherlands.

Andre Mbata Mangu holds a Khalid Ali El Amin holds a PhD doctoral (LLD) and a Masters (LLM) in Political Science; the Political degrees in constitutional, public Economy of Develop-ment from and international law from the Uni- the University of Leeds, the UK. He versity of South Africa (UNISA). He currently works as an associate is currently a Research Professor in professor at the Development the College of Law at UNISA and Studies and Research Institute of Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Khartoum. Andre Mbata UNIKIN. Khalid Ali Mangu El Amin

Kenneth Inyani Simala is a Puleng LenkaBula is a Professor linguist and former Dean, Faculty of Ethics. She undertook her of Education and Social Science, undergraduate and graduate Masinde Muliro University of studies in South Africa, Lesotho Science And Technology. He is and Canada. She is Dean of also the Executive Secretary of Students at the University of South East African Kiswahili Commis- Africa and is active in many sion (EAKC). academic and ecumenical orga- Kenneth Inyani Simala . Puleng LenkaBula nisations.

Hassan Remaoun is a sociologist Isabel Maria Casimiro is a and historian. He is a professor at sociologist and lecturer at Centre the University of Oran. He is also of African Studies, Eduardo a researcher at the National Cen- Mundlane University in Maputo, tre of Research in Social and Cul- Mozambique. A feminist and tural Anthropology (CRASC) in activist, her areas of specialisation Algeria. include women human rights, feminist movements, development Isabel Maria Hassan Remaoun Casimiro and participatory democracy.

Slaheddine Ben Frej is a Socio- Rokhaya Fall holds two PhDs in logist, lecturer and researcher at history and in the history of Black the University of Tunisia in Tunis. Africa. She is currently Head of He is a member of the Editorial the Department of History in the Board of CODESRIA’s journal: Faculty of Arts and Humanities at African Sociological Review and Cheikh Anta Diop University in has authored several publications. Dakar, Senegal.

Slaheddine Rokhaya Fall Ben Frej

CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 5

Tributes to Professor Sam Moyo

Professor Sam Moyo, a Great Intellectual, and a Man of Integrity

CODESRIA President 2008-2011

he Council for the Development of Sam showed great courage in his robust Social Science Research in Africa Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata, President engagement with Zimbabwe’s land T(CODESRIA) deeply regrets and Dr Ebrima Sall, Executive Secretary reforms. He charted a course of indepen- mourns the passing away of its former CODESRIA dent research which eschewed sensatio- president, Professor Sam Moyo. Professor nalism and illuminated the scale and Moyo was in New Delhi, India, where he was attending a significance of land redistribution represented by the Fast conference on "Labour Questions in the Global South". The Track Land Reform Programme which saw over two hundred vehicle in which he was travelling was involved in a serious thousand Zimbabwean households acquiring land for their accident in the evening of Thursday, 19 November, and livelihoods. In spite of the fact that this was for a long time a Professor Moyo died in the early hours of Sunday 22 very lonely undertaking, which incurred the disapproval of November 2015. the different sides of the debates on Zimbabwe’s land reforms, he was much Sam had been an active member of respected and admired not only within CODESRIA since the 1970s. He coordi- CODESRIA, but in the wider community of nated a number of CODESRIA working progressive intellectuals within the Global groups and research networks, and was a South for his consistency and the quality tireless and inexhaustible resource that of the evidence he produced to back his CODESRIA heavily relied upon. Several of positions. The growing acceptance of his most important ideas were first carried Sam’s positions in the wider land and in CODESRIA publications. In 1998, he was agrarian studies community sadly failed to elected Vice-President of CODESRIA. give him full credit for his pivotal role in During the 12th General Assembly held in changing the debate about Zimbabwe’s Yaoundé, Cameroon in December 2008, Sam land reforms. was elected President of CODESRIA, a position he held until December 2011. He Sam was full of life and lived life to the full. continued to play a vital role in the life and He was warm, kind hearted, humble and work of CODESRIA, attending General respectful of every member of staff at Assemblies, representing CODESRIA at many events, hosting CODESRIA. So was he with the countless numbers of younger activities in Harare, advising on research programmes, scholars and colleagues he mentored over the years. We will contributing to the deepening and broadening of intellectual miss a man of integrity, a committed pan Africanist, a loyal exchanges across the Global South and providing wise counsel friend, and a great leader. to the leadership. Ending his short but extremely productive journey in this world Sam was Africa's leading intellectual voice on land and agrarian in India speaks volumes of Sam’s commitment to scholarship transformation. Over long periods when there was little policy and to the cause of the peoples of the Global South. This interest in land reforms, he and a few other scholars kept the commitment was much in evidence in his leadership of the issues alive through rigorous empirical research and theorizing Agrarian South Network, a tri-continental research network about Africa’s land and agrarian questions in the context of on agrarian issues he co-founded with colleagues from Africa, globalization. Throughout an intellectual career that spanned Asia and Latin America. decades and produced a massive body of work, he consistently On behalf of the Executive and Scientific Committees, and the cham-pioned the rights of Africa's smallholders as well as its staff of CODESRIA, we would like to offer our sincere landless and dispossessed communities and chronicled the condolences to Sam’s partner Beatrice, his mother Madam struggles of agrarian social movements for equitable land Mavis Moyo, his daughters and his wider family and friends, rights. He followed up his research with enga-gements with the staff of the Harare based Africa Institute of Agrarian policy makers, civil society organisations, research networks Studies that he founded and led for many years, and to the on agrarian issues as well as social move-ments. He was much entire CODESRIA community, which was his extended family. in demand in Africa and beyond as a policy advisor on land and agrarian issues. Hamba Kahle, Sam. Go well. 23 November 2015 CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 6

Researcher and Institutional Builder

n my current state of shock I cannot heard on critical matters relating to Africa write much by way of an intellectual Thandika Mkandawire and his belief that this demanded rigorous Itribute to Sam Moyo and his rich life. work and institutional backing. And finally Such an undertaking will have to wait. there was keenness to link African research I met Sam in the late 1970s in Dakar at the IDEP library – IDEP to research elsewhere in the "Global South". was at the time run by Samir Amin and was a veritable pan- His position on the land question was principled and no threat African intellectual magnet. Sam had an uncle who lived in of withdrawal of funding of his institute bent his intellec-tual Dakar so he spent his holidays from Fourah Bay College (Sierra integrity. He was bitter and disap-pointed by the de-campai- Leone) with him. A few years later we were to meet again in gning of the Institute by fellow scholars with close links to Harare where I had been seconded by CODESRIA to advise funders. on setting up the Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies (ZIDS). Sam be-longed to the band of young, enthusiastic I once sent him a link to an article in the New York Times graduates who had chosen the uncer-tainty of a job with the citing his work on land in Zimbabwe. This was no minor thing new institute over a much more secure job in government. given what had been a systematic effort to blackout the work of his Institute and the financial strangulation it was being Sam immediately demonstrated his zest for research and his subjected to. But he took it all in stride. However I do know prodigious working capacity. His involvement with the Institute for sure that he took pride from the knowledge that he and his went beyond doing his own research. He took the task of team had beaten the media blackout. He also knew he had building the institution very seriously and enthu-siastically won the intellectual battle. accepted any tasks demanded of him. And over many years that combination of serious researcher and dedicated Towards the end of his life he had shifted his interests towards institutional builder was to manifest itself on many occasions two new concerns. One was the productivity of the newly and in many institutions he was associated with, earning him acquired farms and the other was the emerging social great esteem. differentiation in the new agrarian dispensations. These are two questions that arise after any major land reform such as One memorable characteristic of Sam was his intellectual tena- the one that Zimbabwe carried out. He had problems raising city to delve into a subject with all the energy he could muster. funds for this research programme. It is sad that death has The "Land Question" in Zimbabwe took huge amounts of his denied him the time to pursue research in these areas. time and energy. There were four aspects to his preoccupa- tion. The first aspect was a passion for social justice. The His departure has deprived us not only of a major scholar but second aspect was simply intellectual drive to understand also of one of the outstanding pillars of the African social one of the most important social processes in the Third World sciences institutional architecture. – the land reform in Zimbabwe – whose signi-ficance was Sam loved the research community and was generous with being downplayed by scholars from an amazing range of ideo- his time as many scholars visiting Harare will testify. logical persuasions for whom the massive transfer of property was reduced to something about "Mugabe and his cronies". Sam and I became close family friends. Members of my family The third aspect was his insistence on having African voices and I will miss his humility, care, warmth and kindness.

An intellectual Tour de Force

Walter Chambati

Dear Colleagues It is with a heavy that l write to inform you of the passing on of Professor Sam Moyo early this morning in New Delhi, India after a tragic car accident on Friday evening. We are all shocked and devasted beyond measure. An intellectual tour de force, source of inspiration and humanist with a big heart has passed on. Regards. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 7 Tributes Selfless, Committed and Totally Reliable

no longer recall when exactly I met Sam. Sam’s major scholarship was in the field of Maybe it was in the late 70s at CO Mahmood Mamdani agrarian studies. Always unassuming, he IDESRIA, or in the early 80s at the Zim- seldom talked of his own scholarly work babwe Institute of Development Studies. unless someone raised it first. For me that The late 1990s, though, was the time we truly got to work occasion came in 2008 when the London Review of Books together, closely and intensely. The two of us were at the helm invited me to write a piece on Zimbabwe. The land reform was of CODESRIA’s leadership, as President and Vice President. the big issue at the time. I pulled together whatever studies on The next two years were a time of deep and sharp differences the subject I could lay my hands on. Three sources stood in policy, and it often seemed as if there was no end in sight. above all others as original and reliable: one from the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex, another from the University I remember a particularly difficult episode a year down the of Western Cape and then Sam’s work at the African Institute line. We had an emer-gency meeting in Dakar but Sam said he of Agrarian Studies in Harare. As I read these sources, and the could not be there because he was to have a delicate operation in a few days. I explained what was at stake and asked if he press reports on their findings, I learnt something about the could postpone the operation by a week. He warned me that politics of knowledge production and its recognition in the he would not be able to sit for long in his current state. But the public sphere. Two facts were crystal clear to me: one, that next day, he was in Dakar. During the meeting, he kept on Sam had been several steps ahead of the others; and, two, shifting the weight of his body from one side to the other, now that his work was the last to be recognized. It was almost as if leaning on one buttock, then on another. He was obviously in the press went by a rule of thumb: when it came to ideas, the great pain, but it never showed on his smiling face. chain had to originate in a Western University, and the link go through a South African institution, before it came to an That was Sam, selfless, committed to a fault, totally reliable. African researcher. He was the person you would want by your side if you expected hard times ahead. But no matter how difficult the times, as I discussed this with Sam. He smiled, as if to say, what’s new? during those years, I never saw him turn vindictive against At home, his critics were at pains to paint him as partisan. If he anyone. Later, we would look back on that period as something showed that the land reform had improved the lot of a large of a crossroads in the history of CODESRIA. Then, however, number of the landless, those in the opposition discounted it it was hard and painful. It was the kind of ordeal that can forge as the claim of someone with the regime. But if he refused to enduring friendships. Sam was that kind of a friend. give blanket support to the regime, those with it said he must have hidden links to the opposition. When it came to public In those years, I also learnt that Sam was a mathematical ge- policy, Sam took the cue from his research, always fearless, nius. As soon as we would land in Dakar, he would head for unafraid, and hopeful. He was a voice listened to by all, the Accounts office, take charge of all the books, and go especially when he was the target of criticism. Whatever their through them meticulously. No matter how long it took, 12 or disagreement, all knew that Sam was not susceptible to 24 hours, Sam would work until he would have a report ready corruption, and that he would not offer an opinion unless it for discussion between the two of us. Soon, word went around was informed by deep research. that it would be foolhardy for anyone to try and pull a fast one on Sam. The last time I saw Sam was at the CODESRIA General Assem- bly in Dakar in June. Only two months before, we had been Students and scholars came to CODESRIA for different together in the city of Hangzhou in China at a conference reasons, some for the thrill of travel, others to be part of a Pan- organized by the Inter-Asia School to celebrate the 60th anni- African conversation on issues of the day, and yet others to versary of Bandung. The hospitality was overwhelming. Eve- access otherwise scarce resources for research. Sam shared ry meal was like a banquet; every plate on the table was all those motives but, above all, he was among the few who unfailingly gave more than he received. When it came to facing renewed before it could be empty; wine and drinks flowed. temptation or intimidation, his was a towering presence. Sam Sam was relaxed, as he reminisced of our efforts to build CO- stood for integ-rity and steadfastness, a calm intelligence and DESRIA over the past decades, and reflected about future a cool deliberation, a level head in a crisis situation, and a free plans for the African Institute of Agrarian Studies. I recall this spirit in a party that was sure to follow every difficult episode. as if it was yesterday: Sam, smiling, trusting, reassuring, strong, purposeful, and thoughtful, yet again doing what he was best Sam was one of the few who presented a seamless blend of at, charting a road none had travelled before, but at the same this capacity for sobriety, integrity and joy that marked the time taking you along. CODESRIA crowd – all with a cigarette in one hand no matter the time of day, and a glass of beer at the end of the day. The This is one journey, dear Sam, that you take alone. You leave ground on which this companionship was nurtured was the this world as you came into it, alone, but this world is a better city of Dakar. We came to it from different corners of the place, and we are better off, because we had the privilege of continent, all marginal in one way or another, all looking for being part of your world. The loss is great and the heart is freedom, most of all the freedom of expression, as if gasping heavy, and it is hard and painful to say good-bye. As we for oxygen. Out of that common endeavor were born close grieve for our loss, we also celebrate your life. associations and lasting comradries. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 8

In Memory of Prof Sam Moyo: A Committed Freedom Fighter

he demonstrated his social entre- would like to express my deepest Dr BE Nzimande, preneurship and institution-building skills condolences to the family, friends and MP, South African Minister of when he established the African Institute colleagues of Professor Samson Moyo. I Higher Education and Training of Agrarian Studies. His untimely passing was a great shock to me and to other South Africans who knew Sam was a true internationalist. His very him. I feel his loss very deeply as he was a friend as well as a passing in India, on a work assignment far away from his home, collaborator in various projects. He was wrenched from us at is testament to his internationalism and his under-standing the height of his powers as a leading African intellectual, an that the challenges that face humanity are universal. His interna- activist and an institution builder. tionalism is also demonstrated by his contributions in South Africa. Several years ago, I decided to establish a National I knew Sam for many years – from the time of our liberation Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences and asked him to struggle against apartheid in the mid-1980s. I met him through assist us and to bring with him his experiences and deep the SAPES network led by Dr Ibbo Mandaza. He had fought knowledge of social science research across the continent. for the liberation of Zimbabwe and he was com-mitted to the He accepted my request without hesitation and when the cause of a free, democratic, independent and prosperous Afri- Institute was formally established two years ago, Sam became can continent. His dedication continued throughout his life. a valued, useful and influential member of its Board. This is demonstrated by all his work and more especially his Despite all his accomplishments, Sam remained modest and intellectual work for the benefit of our continent. Sam was unassuming. He was a kind and gentle person and had an held in high esteem by the intellectual community in Africa easy way with people. He was the type of individual that you and beyond. He served for many years in CODESRIA, the very quickly felt at ease with. Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa, successively as a Member of the Executive Committee, Vice My grief at his loss is shared by the South African government President, and finally, from 2009 to 2011 as President and all South Africans who knew Sam Moyo. Our grief is profound and sincere; we will do all we can to ensure that the Sam’s specific areas of interest was agrarian studies, in path that he trod will be followed by others and especially by particular policy regarding agriculture, food, land reform and younger academics and the youth. the environment. After working in these fields as a professor at the Univer-sity of Zimbabwe and as a government advisor, Hamba kahle, Sam, brother and friend..

A Pan-Africanist

n deep sorrow we mourn the sudden and perspective that enabled us to better untimely death of Sam Moyo, profound Jayati Ghosh and IDEAs Team understand the complexities of agrarian Ischolar and progressive activist, change and economic realities in Africa and beloved comrade, Member of the Executive elsewhere. Com-mittee of IDEAs. Sam was in New Delhi, India to participate His death leaves a void that is impossible to fill. We will miss in a conference on "Labour Questions in the Global South" his warmth, affection, generosity and humour and of course when a car he was travelling in was involved in a terrible his irresistible charm that could disarm the keenest adversary. accident. Two other friends and colleagues (Marcelo Rosa In particular we will always cherish his ability to live life to the and Paris Yeros) were injured but Sam was very critically hurt. fullest, even in adverse circumstances. Our hearts go out to After a valiant struggle for survival, he passed away in the his family and his innumerable friends in Zimbabwe and across early hours of 22 November 2015. the world. For many of us, this cannot be farewell. A bit of Sam Sam was much more than a guiding spirit in many of our has enri-ched us forever and will live on inside us. activities. He illuminated our lives and work with his sharp We hope to have more on Sam Moyo in the days ahead, to intellect, passionate commitment, exemplary integrity and honour him and celebrate his extraordinary life. Please send extraordinary energy. His strong sense of Pan African your tributes, memories and other contributions to: conscious-ness and wider South solidarity enriched his and our academic endeavour and public dissemination. His [email protected] and [email protected]. analytical insights always provided a fresh and penetrating CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 9 Tributes An Erudite Scholar and a Fine Gentleman A Scholar and Social Crusader

Enna Sukutai Gudhlanga Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo (Zimbabwe) This news of Sam Moyo came as a veritable shock indeed. Sam I am deeply saddened by Prof Sam Moyo’s passing on in died on the battlefield of science as he travelled to attend this India where he was attending a conference on the Labour conference on issues that were not only an intellectual passion Question in the Global South. The academic fraternity has for him but a social crusade in which he was engaged. But really been robbed of a giant who was eager to mentor both how horrible such a death. Let us pray the very good All-kno- seasoned and upcoming scholars. We have been deprived of wing and Almighty God that He would grant repose to Sam's an erudite scholar and a fine gentleman. I will never forget the soul in His bosom. We will surely miss his critical insi- assistance he gave to our CODESRIA CRN Team, the project ghts, commitment and devotion to the cause that he served culminated in a book which was published in 2015 by with us and the entire African social science community. Adieu CODESRIA titled: Gender, Politics and Land Use in Sam. Zimbabwe, 1980-2012. The Land and Agrarian Studies question will never be the same without Prof Sam Moyo. We have been privileged to know and learn from the prolific A Tribute to our Colleague and Professor par excellence of our time. Fare thee well Prof Sam Moyo, may your soul rest in eternal peace. May your family, Friend, Sam Moyo the AIAS family, the CODESRIA family and the whole academic fraternity be comforted. Fatima Harrak

It was such a shock to hear about Sam’s passing. A Fighter for a more Equal Sam was a brother, a friend, a scholar, a dedicated pan-Afri- World canist and a person who infected everyone with his great spirit. From our first meeting in Yaounde, Cameroun, where he was elected as President of CODESRIA to working by his side as his deputy for three years, Sam Moyo always had about him a Teresa Cruz e Silva passionate dignity that made him an inspiring leader and a Former President of CODESRIA great human being to be around. Energy, commitment, integrity Centro de Estudos Africanos are all words that captured the moral fiber of this man. Universidade Eduardo Mondlane In addition to his renowned scholarly contribution to the study of peasant social movements, agrarian reform and land struggle in Africa and his exceptional leadership abilities, Sam was With a lot of sadness and apprehension, during the last also a caring, generous and selfless person who loved life and weekend we received the news of the car accident in New believed in the goodness of people. I experienced his kindness Delhi, your struggle for life and the heavier news that you as I succeeded him at the head of CODESRIA when he offered were not anymore among us. It was and, still is so hard to his unconditional support and advice. believe in the new reality of your physical absence! Sam was one of a kind and will be sorely missed as a colleague, It is difficult to accept that a fighter for a more equal world, a scholar and friend but never will he be forgotten by those who friend always cheerful and generous, or that an academic were fortunate enough to have known him! always worried with the reality of our continent has left us. However, we have the joy of knowing that the spread of your wisdom among different generations of scholars, young people Une grande perte pour l’Afrique and your daughters, will immortalize your life.

To your family, your friends, to CODESRIA to whom you gave B. Elmorchid an important part of your knowledge, and to the entire academic Marrakech University community, we would like to express our deepest solidarity and our deepest condolences in this difficult moment. Cher(e)s collègues A Luta Continua! Je tiens à m’associer à votre peine et apporter tout mon soutien Sam Moyo will live forever! à ses proches et à ses amis en ces durs moments que la vie nous impose. L’Afrique vient de perdre l’un de ses plus grands chercheurs en sciences sociales. Veuillez accepter mes plus sincères condoléances. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 10 Tributes A Committed Pan-Africanist An Independent Intellectual Tendai Murisa Executive Director,TrustAfrica William Martin (Bill)

This is so sad and obviously very tragic. We have lost a committed Pan-African intellectual. He was bigger than My gratitude to Tendai and Fred, for reminding us, warming Zimbabwe. us, with these difficult summations of Sam in a time when thinking much less writing is so very difficult to do. Surely Sam's reach was global but he remained very grounded and the flood of warm memories will cohere as we gather every- engaged in local debates. where to celebrate Sam’s inestimable gifts to us and our For some of us who have been his students he was always unimaginable loss. What Fred, Tendai and others highlight available to mentor, read our various versions/drafts of thesis, was really a key source of Sam’s gentle, persistent greatness: direct us to new debates and helped in the process to his deep, unrivaled commitment to an independent African understand his very dense work. I will miss him so much. intellectual life and community, and his corresponding eschewing of the easy slide into the traducing hands of those We only take comfort in two things – he has left us with a who possess intellectual, much less state, inducements and great heritage of scholarship and rigor and he also perished rewards. May his example continue to inspire us in our weaker whilst still engaged – he did not for whatever reason abandon moments – and the next generation. the struggle despite the many opportunities for cooptation by the state. I am sure you are also aware that he turned down a number of top regional positions in many donor organizations because he chose to remain true to his intellectual calling despite the every day challenges of donor politics etc. An Inspiration We are poorer without Sam.

Rama Salla Dieng Member of CODESRIA SOAS-University of London L‘Afrique et le monde intellectuel en deuil Dear Fellow members of CODESRIA, Please accept my condolences for the loss of our Professor Sam Moyo. I am writing the word 'loss' unwillingly. It is so Baba Maal Artiste / Musicien hard to accept the news. I had turned to land studies because of his great passion and commitment at the first Pan- C’est une grande perte pour l’Afrique et le monde intellectuel. African land grab conference in 2013 in Addis, because of his writings, those of Prof Tsikata, Prof Olukoshi and Prof Amanor. Paix à son âme. It is because of him that I later focused most of my research at Que le Seigneur l’accueille dans son paradis ! SOAS on land, proud to quote his brilliant analysis of the "African Land Question". And it is because of him that I am now doing my PhD on "land grabbing in Senegal" I met him again at the third PanAfrican land conference in Harare in September 2015! The last day of the conference, I was sitting with Prof Moyo listening to his advice, preaching the need to have a Global South approach. I can still hear him telling me to be Qondi's old sister in London, at SOAS when I return. I was supposed to see him again in January 2016 at the AIAS Summit and was working towards finalising my paper. So soon!! We have lost a GIANT. May God console us and welcome him in Paradise. May his soul rest in Perfect peace. We need to keep reading him, engage with his work, furthering it (a difficult venture!) but the best way to pay a tribute to his rigor! A luta continua CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 11

An Ode in Memory of Chimusoro Sam Moyo

n unimaginable loss has happened. You lent your brilliance to the environ- Bella Matambanadzo Our phenomenal intellectual pan mental think tank Zero, pulled us into the AAfrican giant on land issues, Senegal based CODESRIA and intro-duced Professor Sam Moyo, has died following injuries sustained us to people who wore Dashiki shirts as a form of political during a terrible car accident in New Delhi, India. We are in expression. People whose papers you had photo-copied for disbelief. We are waiting for him to come home. We feel ripped us to read. This was before computers. It was the time of type- apart with pain. writers. Your scrawl was impossible to decipher, but we knew that if we didn't figure out your handwriting, there would be We grew up following you in our townships. We nicknamed trouble. You could not abide intellectual laziness. you Sekuru 'Chimusoro', the one with the very big head. All our parents wanted us to be exactly like you. At the end of On Boodle Road, in Harare's Eastlea suburb you set up the every school term, you would come home with a report card African Institute of Agrarian Studies (AIAS). It was nothing full of number ones. Your arms would be laden with trophies short of a bold move. This was Zimbabwe in the early 2000s and certificates for best student in this subject; outstanding when land invasions were at their apex. Nothing could deter record in that. you. Not physical threats, nor slurs to your name. And who can forget the raid of your home office in Borrowdale. You put Your mother, Gogo Mavis Moyo's face would beam with your ubiquitous cigarette to your mouth and shock your head. enough joy to light up the whole continent. She was a woman 'Why did they have to mess my papers up? I had order here'. of her own accolades, a pioneer black female broadcaster at a I would look at the piles and piles of papers you had and time when radio was segregated by racism. But somehow your wonder what kind of order you meant. Your office was a project achievements made her glow in the way that only a mother for a neat freak. can do. Last year, we danced until dawn in your front garden. Your We always marveled at the shiny silver cups with your name lawn groaned underfoot of our stampede. It was your 60th on them. Playfully, you would fill them with cherry plum juice birthday party. Food, music, friends and land politics. The and serve us to drink along with candy cakes. The pink icing delicious chocolate cake was a creative meme of your desk. would crease between our fingers. Domestic chores, serving Cellphone, books on land with the spine carrying your name. those around you, never bothered you. You had such a deep And of course your friends from all over the world filled your sense of the hospitality of food, and the power of sharing yard. Or skype feed. drinks with those you loved, that we always felt welcome to your side. Our great tree that bore so much fruit. Yes we would By your side was your sweetheart and partner, the top human laugh, but you would steer us to talk about the thing that rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa. We marveled at how possible mattered most to you; and even if we did not know it then, to it was for two wonderful, strong and brilliant human beings to us. How to fully reclaim the land that was stolen by the colonial love each other so much. It made us feel good to see you forces. dancing. It was as if no one else was around as you smiled at each other and twirled each other to Hugh Masekela's trumpet. Throughout your life, you carried your intellectual smarts with Power couples that publicly show each other affection and so much ease. In your later years, when your trophies had validation are so very rare in our activist civil society worlds. turned to degrees, you would seek us out so we could sit in We were hoping for a huge international African wedding and your seminars. At that time I think you were at the Zimbabwe had decided we were going to be in the bridal party. I don't Institute of Development Studies (ZIDS). Later on you moved know how we will comfort you Beatrice. I don't know how we to SAPES and taught the SARIPS Masters Programme with will comfort Gogo Moyo. What will we do for Sibongile and radical feminists like Dr Patricia Macfadden you made our brains her sisters? sweat. In the beginning we would all look at each other unable to write down some of the big words and theories you used. On the days I forgot to call to check on you, you would ring. And yet you persisted. Sharing your know-ledge with us, And demand our company. 'Is Nancy (Kachingwe) around? crafting an epistemology around land and agrarian rights. Where is Saru? Let me make you Oxtail. Bring your friends Together you showed us why land was a critical resource for over'. You always offered your home to us, whether you were women to have ownership and control over. there or not. When we tried to call you Prof, you would smile and say, Thank you for giving us so much of you Sekuru Chimusoro. 'vafana vangu, ndinonzi Sam - my youngsters, I am just Sam.' Siyabonga Moyondizvo. We will forever carry you in our It didn't matter that you had 'eaten many books' as the saying hearts. Broken as they are by your untimely and devastatingly used to go. You would listen to our elementary theories, nurture painful death. Alone, so far away from the homeland you fought us with love and suggest, 'let's write a policy brief on this so hard for. subject. That's how we will change the world'. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 12 Tributes Fighting for Equality and Justice A jamais dans mes travaux et dans ma mémoire Isabel Casimiro

Ahmat Hessana Dear comrade, activist of several struggles in Zimbabwe, Membre du CODESRIA African continent and the world I am still in shock, not wanting to believe. We know we all die. But even so it is always hard to Je suis profondément choqué par la nouvelle de la disparition deal with death, and of someone so committed with land and du Pr SAM MOYO. so many other issues that divide human beings. Il a forgé en moi une méthodologie spécifique aux études We met in Harare long ago, in the 90's at the Hivos Advisory foncières, après ma participation à l'Institut sur le genre 2014. Group (HAG) and then with the Sapem activities, board, conferences. En rentrant à Yaoundé dans l'avion, j'ai dévoré passion-nément son ouvrage qui a fait de moi un chercheur du foncier. And we met at CODESRIA. C'est ce que je retiens de lui, bien que je ne l'aie pas ren-contré We will go on fighting for equality and justice! une seule fois. Condolences to the family! Je vais le citer dans mes travaux sur le foncier. See you Sam. Au CODESRIA, ma proposition: imprimons son portrait sur A luta continua! fond de la dernière des couvertures des ouvrages quenous produirons et sur nos badges ; ceci pendant le nombre de jours prochains qui sera égal à l'âge auquel il est décédé. Sam Moyo nos acompañará Tu es à jamais dans mes travaux et dans ma mémoire. siempre en las luchas por un mundo más, humano e igualitario Crual Death Pablo Gentili CLACSO / Secretario Ejecutivo Solani Ngobeni Director: Publications Human Sciences Research Council Queridos amigos y amigas,

It was tragic to receive the news of Prof. Moyo’s passing. I Recibimos la triste noticia de la prematura muerte de Sam Moyo, cannot come to terms with the fact that the same sage with miembro del Comité Ejecutivo de IDEAs y ex presidente del whom we attended the CODESRIA General Assembly this past Consejo para el Desarrollo de la Investigación en Ciencias June in Dakar, Senegal is no more. We also attended the South Sociales (CODESRIA), la institución hermana de CLACSO en African Association of Political Sciences Colloquium at the África. University of Johannesburg in August. How can death be so Sam fue un destacado estudioso de la economía política en cruel? Zimbabwe. Se encontraba en Nueva Delhi, India, para May His Soul Rest in Peace! participar en una conferencia sobre "Cuestiones laborales en Regards. el Sur g lobal", cuando el auto en el que viajaba sufrió un grave accidente. Luchó hasta ultimo momento por la vida, pero falleció ayer, 22 de noviembre de 2015. Sus temas de estudio fueron la ecología política, las nuevas A wonderfull Generous Friend ruralidades, las organizaciones no gubernamentales y los movimientos sociales. Publicó varios artículos, capítulos de libros y los siguientes libros (como autor, co-autor o co-editor): La cuestión agraria en Zimbabwe; El proceso de adquisición Jimi Adesina de tierras en Zimbabwe 1997/8: impactos Socio-Económicos y Políticos; La Reforma Agraria bajo el ajuste estructural en Zimbabwe; Las ONG, el Estado y la política en Zimbabwe; The sense of utter desolation that one feels at the news of the Política Energética y Planificación en el Sur de África; loss of Sam is beyond words. Sam was a wonderful and Seguridad Ambiental en el Sur de África; Organizaciones generous friend, an inspiring colleague, an immensely active campesinas y democratización en África; La recuperación and courageous scholar, and a remarkably dedicated member de la Nación: El retorno de la cuestión nacional en África, of CODESRIA and one of its leading lights. Asia y América; entre otros. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 13 Tributes Sam fue un activo colaborador del Programa Sur-Sur de CLACSO y CODESRIA. Su obra: Recuperando la tierra. El In June, he was awarded for his enormous contributions to resurgimiento de movimientos rurales en África, Asia y Marxian political economy at the World Association for Politi- América Latina fue publicada por nuestras instituciones y cal Economy conference in Johannesburg; he was also made está disponible para descargar completa en nuestra Librería a vice-chairperson of that organisation. Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. For those interested, see attached for a list of Google-Scholar (http://www.clacso.org.ar/libreria-latinoamericana/ citations of his most popular works and more YouTube links. buscar_libro_detalle.php?id_libro=69&campo=autor&texto=moyo) Below is the beginning of what I think is the last article he Su fuerte sentido del panafricanismo y su solidaridad con los published, and his last interview. If you would like more of his pueblos del Sur nos han enriquecido permanentemente y nos published work, at least some of his articles and a book that I acompañarán siempre. can send as files, just let me know. CLACSO despide a nuestro querido y admirado Sam Moyo, This is all very rough, just a chance to say that we are losing sabiendo que esté donde esté, nos acompañará siempre en las an exceptionally important intellectual and comrade this luchas por un mundo más justo, humano e igualitario. weekend, and we owe it to ourselves and our tradition – and to all who struggle to fuse knowledge and social progress, wherever we may be – to keep reminding ourselves of Sam's legacy. And his generosity of spirit. We will be posting further Respected Intellectual memorial statements about his work and remarkable life at http:/ /ccs.ukzn.ac.za this week Sadly. Patrick Bond Irreparable Loss Greetings, with tragic news from Ebrima, whom you remember is the secretary of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa: Gladys Lechini We just received this evening the sad news of the passing away of Professor Sam Moyo, former President of CODESRIA. Sam was in India for a conference and got Dear Ebrima caught up in a bad car accident and got seriously injured. So long without getting in contact with you. I hope you are We’ve been getting regular updates about his condition all both well day from our colleagues in Delhi. Unfortunately he didn’t survive the serious injuries he sustained. May his soul I am writting to you this time just to share my regrets and rest in peace. sorrow for the demise of our friend Sam Moyo. Sam was from a peasant background and rose to become one Although we have not met for a long time, since I had to leave of Zimbabwe's - and Africa's - most respected intellectuals. CLACSO, I have the best remembrances of the old times You will all remember him from Hong Kong and Chongqing/ together. Chengdu video in commemoration of Vinod:http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJoDhMGTtkA&feature=youtu.be My sincere and profound condolences for this irreparable loss. At 10:30 in this wonderful video tribute to Vinod, you find Sam, briefly expressing gratitude for the experience. The skillful Toujours le même film-maker found him in several other places which bring back such warm memories. At our Centre for Civil Society here in Durban, Sam played El Hadj SANE such a wonderful role, especially since he started visiting in Human Resources Director 2012 and co-supervising our PhD students in 2014. He was atlantic.sn one of our Honorary Professors, and there is some information about his career here: Cher Ebrima, http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za/default.asp?10,86,8,164 C’est avec grande stupéfaction que je viens d’apprendre le décès accidentel de notre ami le Professeur Sam Moyo. Je It was the trip to Chongqing that allowed us to arrange that voudrais vous présenter à toi, Bayo, Francine, l’ensemble du position, one of many reasons I always look back four years, personnel du Codesria et à la famille de Sam mes condoléances with such admiration for our hosts. les plus attristées. I was last with Sam in Harare in August, at an excellent talk he Ce que je retiens surtout de Sam c’est de le trouver à chaque gave about Zimbabwe's agricultural sector: https:// rencontre avec toujours son calme, la bonne humeur et un www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Y6iBl3BOE and this is a great petit sourire à l’endroit de tous. Une grande perte pour le explanation of his theory of the tri-modal land structure in Codesria. Que le bon dieu l’accueille dans son paradis. Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5--ZntJGh4 Reçois toutes mes amitiés. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 14 Tributes The important lesson we all should learn from him is that 'it is honorable to pursue a course we believe in to the very end. Astute Intellectual This did Sam. As they will say in the military, he died in the very active service better. Prof Puleng LenkaBula Adieu, our beloved Sam

Dear Claudio and colleagues, What a loss… I think these are the words I can humbly share He impacted our Humanity with you now. It is really a sad situation to lose a colleague who was full of life, loved his work and was intellectually astute with a broad footprint in many disciplines and particularly on the land questions and agrarian issues, in very Lesiba Teffo detailed way… I am saddened by the loss. May his soul rest in peace. Kindest regards. Colleagues, Big Brother Sam Moyo touched us and impacted our humanity, and influenced our intellectual growth in a profound way. I Giant of a Scholar align myself with the sentiments that seek to honour him. Keep thinking on the best way how, and I will convene a meeting in January to chart the way forward. I am also thinking about a Jessie Kabwila Ph. D. festschrift. Sis Thoko Didiza has some suggestions as well. Department English, Chancellor College, University of Malawi In the arena of human life the honours and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action (Aristotle). I am still trying to get to terms with this devastating piece of Regards. news. The loss of Professor Sam Moyo has really shocked me and reminded me that life is too short. We have really lost one giant of a scholar. Very sad for the CODESRIA family. In Memory of Sam Moyo

Abdul Raufu Mustapha, Friend and Comrade University of Oxford, England

t is hard to think of Sam in the past tense. It is deeply Rémy Herrera saddening to come to terms with the loss of this illustrious Dear all, Iacademic and son of Africa. The last time I saw Sam was at the CODESRIA General Assembly in June 2015, in Dakar. Sam This is a so hard news... so sad to hear it... was his usual warm and generous self. Clear in his Sam was a so wonderful friend-comrade-brother. commitments, perceptive in his observations, and gentle in making his point. We spent many a moment slipping out of the We will all continue his struggle, together. sessions to have a cigarette outside the hotel. Sam, a seasoned Fraternité, smoker; I, a serial quitter. Those were moments of chit-chat, comparing notes, exchanging views, and generally enjoying each other’s company. I will forever miss the warmth and friendship of this kind soul. Simplicity Without Ambiguity Sam was also a profound academic. He invited me once to teach at the Summer School in Agrarian Studies that his institute in Zimbabwe organized. He assembled academics from Evans Osabuohien Brazil, India, and different parts of Africa at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. I learnt so much at this The death of Sam is a great loss to Africa in particular and the gathering that I was supposed to be teaching in! Sam’s generality of the Global South. personal work on Zimbabwe’s multi-faceted land reform process is a study in academic courage, integrity, and commi- The few times I had one-on-one discussions with him, I was tment. He trusted himself, stuck to the truth as he saw it, and greatly humbled by his simplicity cum humility void of any dirtied his hands in doing difficult fieldwork. He was ambiguity. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 15 Tributes characteristically generous to others when they finally saw the light and came over to his way of seeing the issues. Researcher and Enlightened Sam was also a Pan-Africanist of the highest calibre. His Pan- Africanism was not shown in bombastic phrases, but in Political Analyst practical, real-life, ways. He never failed to answer any question one had about goings-on in Zimbabwe. He stuck to the key issues; I don’t ever remember Sam having a bad word to say Victor Hugo Jijon about anybody. Occasionally he would make a point, followed Movement Pachakutik from Ecuador by a chuckle. His commitment was to the long suffering peasantry of Zimbabwe. He was also frequently refreshing his knowledge of Nigeria by seizing the opportunity of our Dear friends, infrequent meetings to ask questions about friends, people, The tragic accident that took the life of Professor Sam Moyo and events. Now and again, he would switch to Nigerian has deprived us of a great researcher and enlightened political pidgin-English to relish a point. He might have left Nigeria analyst on the agrarian question in Africa that has contributed many years ago, but he never let go of the country. In his heart significantly to the orientation of liberation struggles. I have and concerns, Sam remained one of us. Above all, Sam’s Pan- not been lucky enough to know him personally, but reading Africanism shone brightly in the invaluable duty he did for his books and his many articles helped me a lot to know and African academia by helping to steer the ship of CODESRIA spread in my country, Ecuador, and in several forums in Latin at a very critical period in the life of this important institution. America, social unrest and political conflicts in several African I will sorely miss you Sam – courageous academic, and selfless countries. scholar in the cause of Africa. Above all, I will miss a friend I Sam has undertaken a great flight, but his departure is only have come to trust and respect. Our meetings will never be the physical because his thoughts and expectations of same without you. emancipatory political transformation will remain an essential My deepest condolences to his family, especially his mother, reference in all continents. his children, and his close relations. May you all, and his colleagues at the Agrarian Institute, carry on the work where Sam left off. An Intellectual not a Farmer; An Academic not a Politician Riche et impressionante production scientifique Fred Hendricks Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa

Abdelatif Rebah The news of Sam's death reached me on my arrival in Johan- nesburg yesterday morning. While it was not unexpected, Chers amis, given the extent of his injuries, I still hoped that he would C'est une bien triste nouvelle que celle de la disparition tragique somehow survive. Just before I boarded the plane in Delhi on du Professeur Sam Moyo, chercheur et spécialiste des Saturday night, Praveen sent me an sms saying, "Sam is sinking questions agraires et économiques de notre continent. C'est further" une perte que la communauté des chercheurs engagés dans I feel bereft beyond words by his untimely departure and by les luttes libératrices de leurs peuples ne peut que ressentir. how very close he was to us in the Guest House when the Personnellement, sans avoir eu l'honneur de le connaitre, j'ai accident happened. On our way to Praveen's house for dinner, pu en prendre l'immense mesure en prenant connaissance de we saw the damaged car of his fatal accident. Since the news sa riche et impressionnante production scientifique. Et c'est we received about the extent of the injuries was understandably dans la continuation de ce combat d'idées pour l'émancipation unclear at the time, it did not immediately appear that this was nationale et sociale des peuples, je pense, que le meilleur serious because they were actually taken to the hospital in a hommage peut lui être rendu. Merci à vous tous de Our Global famous Delhi three-wheeler. But, when I saw the car, and how University de m'avoir permis de partager cet hommage. damaged it was I became inwardly worried and jittery. All the best ! My last memory of Sam, a very appropriate one at that, was in the car on our way to the conference on Friday morning, when he announced that Prvaeen had stocked his fridge with a tray of beers which he invited us to share that Friday night. We will never ever have the joy of sharing a drink with him again and there are so many other never evers, that I just can't think straight today, in the knowledge that he is not with us any more. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 16 Tributes holding memories in common, a man lives. I met Sam about 30 years ago at a conference and we've been His lover will carry his man’s scent, his touch in touch ever since because our research interest coincided. His children will carry the weight of his love Most recently he was a key member in our SANPAD project One friend will carry his arguments which produced the book, "The Promise of Land". Our paths Another will hum favourite tunes also crossed in the Committee designed to prepare the way for Another will share his terrors the establishment of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and of course in the Agrarian South And the days will pass will baffled faces Network as well as in CODESRIA. Finally a day comes when he will have ceased to be separated by death There are two aspects of Sam that impressed me most about his integrity: (i) He was offered a farm as part of the Fast Track So how long does a man live after all? Land reform Programme, which he refused saying that he was A man lives for many different lengths of time." an intellectual not a farmer. (ii) He was also offered a ministerial I only wish the longest possible life for Sam, through his hugs, job, which he refused saying he was an academic not a touches, arguments, inspiration and his inexorable quest for a politician. These are rare and admirable qualities. progressive social order, that many of us experienced in our Let us honour the memory of his life and work in appropriate interactions with him. We will never give up on you Brother Sam. ways across the world. If the metaphor of ‘Gods Own Good Man’ is an apposite one – With deeply felt sadness. it certainly holds for Sam.

For Inter-Asia School: In memory Tireless and Unwavering of Professor Sam Moyo (1954-2015)

Praveen Jha Centre for Economic Studies and Pr. Kuan-Hsing Chen, Planning Jawaharlal Nehru University National Chiao Tung University Hsinch, Taiwan To mourn Sam is impossibly difficult for me. It seems like a most cruel and twisted nightmare. Nightmare is not even the My last contact with Prof. Sam Moyo was on September 18, right word – as nightmares end but this will not. 2015. The e-mail exchanges were about concrete steps to open As some of you know, for well over a decade I was fortunate channels of intellectual interaction between Africa and Asia to be very close to him, both professionally and personally. after the Hangzhou (China) Forum on "Bandung/Third World Along with a network of comrades from different parts of the 60 Years". Like always, Sam responded quickly and world, particularly the Global South, Sam was tireless and enthusiastically, listing a series of possible programs such as unwavering in his quest for a humane and just social order. translation of essays and books, summer school and exchange One of the institutional expressions of our shared dreams, for postgraduate students, and biannual intellectual forum. journeys and at times hunting together has been the Agrarian Now, with his sudden departure from us, I am not certain to South Network. He was not only the cementing force of it but what extent we will be able to implement and continue what he also its heart. The heart has been wrenched away and we has suggested but will have to try our best to continue his gasping for breath. "will to organize". I can speak forever for the great scholar, activist and everything Sam was a new friend. Most of us involved in the Inter-Asia else about Sam that has been shared in the massive outpouring School project only met him very recently in the Hangzhou of grief from all over the world. But I am speechless at the loss gathering in April 2015. But Sam has immediately become an of my brother Sam. Let me hide behind a few words from a old friend once we were with him. His warm personality, open- Neruda poem titled "So Many Different Lengths of Time" which endedness, honesty, ability to act on the spot, and of course have been haunting me since the early horrible hours of 22 love of beer and cigarette have won friendship and respect November 2015. from anyone around him. I wonder whether he always travels lightly with a carry on bag; once landed in Hangzhou, with " So how long does a man live, finally? huge jet lag, he began to work and tune in smoothly. Over the And how much does he live while he lives? dining tables and post conference tour to the tea field and We fret, and ask so many questions- West Lake, we all further learned about his erudite knowledge, then when it comes to us infinite curiosity of popular life, and immense sense of humor. the answer is so simple Before Sam left Hangzhou for home, he proactively initiated A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us the idea for some of us from Asia to join CODESRIA’s Assem- bly to happen in June. Two months later, Ikegami Yushihiko for as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams and I (representing the Inter-Asia School) landed in Dakar. for as long as we ourselves live For this reunion, Sam became the host of Africa to welcome CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 17 Tributes the two first time visitors from Asia. In his hotel room, before the Assembly started, we did a long and engaging interview with Sam on the formation of CODESRIA from the 1970s I come not to Mourn you onwards. He generously shared with us his reflexive analysis and introduced us to several core members of the organiza- tion to talk to in the following days to come. During this most Issa Shivji intense meeting ever, from morning till evening every day for University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania five days, we as outsiders began to have a sense of great achievement this African circle of thought, which has nurtu- I come not to mourn you, Comrade red and produced brilliant scholars like Sam, and in turn Sam and others has contributed to build a community of trust for I’ll shed no tear, my friend the next generations to grow. In the past 40 some years, CO- I refuse to say ‘pole’; to say ‘sorry’ DESRIA’s Pan-Africanism is able to construct a solid modern Why should I? intellectual tradition capable of analyzing difficult issues and I refuse to bury you troublesome problems from a continental perspective, brea- king down the barriers of the nation-state boundary, and in How can I? dialogue with global community of knowledge. Sam’s kind For you live invitation created a precious occasion for us to see what we You live in me need to learn from the African intellectual community and what You live in many across the globe is absent in Asia and beyond, though we understand the for- Who loved you mation of CODESRIA has had its own unique conditions. Prof. Sam Moyo has left us with the friendship of a genuine human Whose lives you touched being for us, living in Asia and having the privilege to work Whose hearts you cuddled with him as a comrade, to treasure for rest of our life, but, most Whose minds you tickled importantly, a legacy of his tri-continental work, to which he I come to celebrate your living, Comrade has been committed and we will need to uphold. Sam will always I’ll toast to your ideas, my friend be with us if we will continue the incomplete intellectual pro- Over a glass of sahara, and a plate of ‘nyama choma’ ject of Africa, Asia and Latin-America links. In Rose Garden, in Sao Paulo, in New Delhi I’ll sing praises of Sahara, that unites the continent As you did A Poem for Sam Moyo I’ll pontificate on Sahara, that embraces civilizations As you preached and practiced I know this is not a poem, nor a flowery prose Kofi Anyidoho Porojo it may be Who cares? There was this thing about Sam Moyo: It’s for my friend and comrade A forever sparkle in his eyes For my compassionate companion A certain gliding motion in his walk Straight from my heart and soul A heart the size of Love Yes, it’s for my friend and comrade forever trembling with care and tenderness For, he lives A voice that soothes even in rage- amidst CODESRIA’s countless arguments his voice comes home with a soothing balm Thank you Sam Moyo A mind the pointed sharpness of laser beams A Soul firmly Rooted in Ancestral Agrarian Soils

And oh! even the Smoke from his Serial Cigarettes Bridget O'Laughlin Curls into a Slender Prayer Reaching out to God. Like many I feel a tremendous sense of personal and collective Accra, Ghana. Nov. 25, 2015 loss at Sam's passing. There is so much to thank him for: the model he built at the African Institute for Agrarian Studies for politically engaged, nationally based serious academic research in Southern Africa; explaining the complexity of what was going on in Zimbabwe even as mainstream media (and academia) polarised the debate into you are either with Mugabe or you are against him; for his energising contributions to keeping the project of land reform in Southern Africa on the fire; and for his indomitable humanism and empathy. My condolences to his family, his colleagues, his comrades and to us all. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 18 Tributes curiosity was born; I wanted to understand how disposses- sion of this magnitude takes place and what leads to a state I Will Miss Sam where injustice is really a normalisation of the abnormal. Un- der the guidance of my mentor and supervisor Dr Onalenna Selowane, I went about reading what I could get my hands on Pierre Sane to learn about land, rights, politics, identity and social justice – and right up there were the works of Prof Sam Moyo. Dear Ebrima, You see Sam was a great thinker and fearless scholar. A political I received your message while in Nigeria. I read it once and economist of note. At the height of the political crisis in immediately shut down my computer. It was so brutal. I was in Zimbabwe and the Fast Track Land Reform Programme or shock. I was supposed to have a Skype conversation with invasions if you wish, Sam was amongst the few scholars who Sam on the following Wednesday and he had called my office acknowledged that land reform in Zimbabwe had benefitted in my absence to confirm he had received the documentation small scale farmers, the rural poor. In his various writings he and would be back in Harare by Wednesday. argued that the popular assumption about failed land reform in Zimbabwe was wrong. Instead, land reform programmes And then this! For a week at unexpected moments my thoughts despite benefiting the elite had been redistributive. The poor would drift towards him and the injustice (the way I felt it) of it had gained more than others and the extent of such benefit all. I came across Sam early after Zimbabwe independence in had been wide enough to trigger significant progressive Harare. I was then at IDRC in Nairobi and my organisation was changes in the agrarian structure. determined to accompany the research community of nascent Zimbabwe. He was at ZIDS with Tandika and was inseparable To quote Prof Moyo writing about the land reform discourse from his mate Tom Shoppo who also had an untimely death. in the early 2000s this is what he had to say; ‘the debate has Since the early 80s we have kept in touch despite leaving far focused on the immediate political motives of the FTLRP, apart. I enjoyed his company so much. I will miss him. selectively highlighting its aspects of ‘violence’, ‘disorder’, and ‘chaos’, claiming that the ruling Zanu PF elite and the RIP state instrumentalised the FTLRP for electoral support and that only Zanu PF cronies benefited. By neglecting to examine the character and scale of redistribution of the FTLRP, and not A sip, a Laugh, a Legacy: looking at it from a longer historical perspective, the literature on Zimbabwe’s agrarian reform is deprived of a crucial Prof Sam Moyo viewpoint.1 Prof Moyo drawing over three decades of research went about to set the record straight. This was a highly unpopular view Masego Madzwamuse but he stuck to it. Sadly enough it is the work of Ian Scoones that is often cited to tell the story of the success of the land reform in Zimbabwe and its impact on the lives of small-scale e sat down for a drink and to catch-up on work. We farmers. The New York Times even ran a story back in 2012 argued and discussed different projects Sam was about the new black tobacco farmers, beneficiaries of the fast busy with at the time. I ordered my usual gin and track land reform process – the title was ‘In Zimbabwe Land W 2 tonic and he asked for a savanna light; then as if to make it Takeover, a Golden Lining’ Sam Moyo did not glorify the fast lighter, went on to dilute it with water. We looked at him track land programme though he also critiqued the land reform perplexed and asked why on earth anyone would add water to process and pointed out its flaws, acknowledging the uneven savanna and his response was: ‘I am trying to watch my drink’. distribution of land among beneficiaries of the land reform Without much debate this was understood by all who sat at programme. He acknowledged that some especially the political the table that night. The subject was closed and we moved on elite had received larger allocations than others. This in turn to other pressing and exciting matters. The land question, influenced skewed access to farming services and agrarian reform in Zimbabwe, political transition and the land infrastructure. But that said, the bottom line was the peasants grabs dogging the continent. had benefitted. While the article in the NYT was celebrated, Scoones widely quoted, Prof Moyo received wide criticism What is but a small blot to a man’s image, especially one who- for the same views. We don’t acknowledge and celebrate se ideas had shaped your thinking for as far you could remem- African scholarship enough. We second guess our own and ber? Studying sociology I had become curious about the land often we are quick to label and discredit them. question in Africa. In a conversation with my father, I had asked him about this. We are told the San are the oldest inha- The Agrarian Institute was born and Prof Sam bitants of Southern Africa and yet in Gantsi my mother’s home Moyo’s legacy lives on area most of the San settlements were to be found on the But that was Sam’s work on Zimbabwe. He dedicated his outskirts of the budding town, on the fringes of national parks, scholarship to other parts of the continent too. He was a Pan- the biggest cattle ranches in the country and so forth. And my Africanist of note. He served as the President of the Council father had said the San villages encircle the Gantsi Town, they for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are observing the movements of the new occupants of their from 2009–2011). He was a research professor at the Zimbabwe land and one day they will reclaim what is theirs. There a Institute of Development Studies, and taught at the Universities CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 19 Tributes of Calabar in Nigeria as well as Zimbabwe and served on the boards of many organisations. The last time I saw Sam was in August and over a glass of With most of his achievements what stood out for me was the wine, lots of laughter and this time nothing was diluted, we African Institute of Agrarian Studies. Prof Moyo set up the plunged straight into another heated debate over a highly Institute in late 2002. The main objective of taking on such a political and controversial issue. That of Cecil the lion. That bold step was to influence land and agrarian reform policies evening many questions were asked, whose narrative is it? through multidisciplinary social science research, policy What was the impact of the international campaign on the dialogues, training and information. Sam never lost sight of livelihoods of rural communities who rely on tourism and one thing he was passionate about. This would not be an sustainable use of wildlife resources for their local economies? institute that would do research for the sake of it. He ultimately Where was the voice of the African scholars and practitioners wanted to mobilise scholars to provide advice and mediate in in the conservation field? What do communities have to say, the policy making processes so as to improve rural livelihoods. where is the platform? The questions went on and on. That He often lamented the limited relevant knowledge and training was Sam; there was laughter, sipping and critical thinking. programmes to tackle the contemporary agrarian crisis that is Sam you are one of whom it can be said that " akekho ofana emerging in the continent. The low agricultural productivity, nawe" (there is none like you). Rest in eternal peace dear food insecurity, unemployment, poverty, and unsustainable brother, colleague, mentor and comrade!!! You planted many natural resources utilisation, while redressing the growing loss ideas and these will live on! of rights to land, food and a clean environment. To respond to this challenge, Prof Moyo argued that a critical mass of Notes analysts and civil society advocates needs to be built to 1. See Moyo, S. Three decades of agrarian reform in Zimbabwe. 2011. influence shifts in the policy environment. This should also In Journal of Peasant Studies. Vol. 38, No. 3, July 2011, 493–531 promote civil society organisations to better support the advocacy of those whose rights are infringed upon. His 2. See Lydia Polgreen, 2012. In Zimbabwe Land Take Over, a Golden argument was the current knowledge production and policy Lining.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/world/africa/in- analysis institutions have, due to their limited disciplinary zimbabwe-land-takeover... curricula failed to fill this gap. They serve too few potential agrarian analysts and focus on limited market and business models. Their learning processes cater for a narrow range of views and exclude the perspectives of those who use political An Intellectual and an Activist economy and rights-based approaches to policy making and advocacy.

Out of this critique, the Agrarian Institute was born and its Michael West flagship programme the Agrarian Summer School was launched. The Summer School contributes to filling this gap by providing training to postgraduate students and civil society he singular life that was Sam Moyo has left a legacy activists in Africa, and promoting research relevant to that is as sprawling as his labor. As an intellectual and understanding and addressing agrarian justice and inequitable Tan activist, Sam was identified with multiple causes resource rights on the continent. This programme was a and movements, in and out of Zimbabwe and Africa. Most reflection of Sam’s commitment to building skills for critical conspicuously, though, in the public arena he was associated thinking and mentoring young scholars. He drew on his social with the land question. For exactly a century and another capital to bring together some of the best brains in the field quarter this year, the year of Sam’s passing, since the cursed who spent days of their time teaching young scholars and implantation in 1890 of British colonialism, land has been the providing them with feedback on their research. Guest lecturers single most persistent theme in the politics, economy and have included the likes of Prof Paris Yeros University Federal society of Southern Rhodesia turned Rhodesia turned do ABC Brazil, Prof Dzodzi Tsikaka University of Ghana and Zimbabwe. All serious students (and even some not-so-serious current President of Codesria, Praveen Jha and Jawaharlal ones) of Zimbabwe, then and now, whether employing the Nehru University, New Delhi among others. Partners in the nonfictional or fictional form, have had to confront in one way Agrarian Consortium that emerged out of these efforts include or another the land question, or its multiple relations, which is the Rhodes University, Haki Ardhi, University of Dar es Salaam to say every other serious social question. No scholar of (Tanzania) and Civil Society Organizations, HAKIARDHI The Zimbabwe, barring none, writing in whatever field, in whatever Land Rights Research & Resources Institute (Tanzania), and era, of whatever political stripe, has matched Sam in dedication, Trust for Community Outreach and Education (South Africa) perception and rigor on the land question. More than anyone, and other in research and training of postgraduate students, too, he globalized the Zimbabwean land question, ensuring with the support of key research institutions in Brasil (Federal its inclusion on the agenda of masses and movements Universities of ABC and Brasilia) and in India (Jahwaral Nehru struggling over land anywhere and everywhere in the world. University Centre for Economic Studies and Planning). The He did so, again, in the face of great odds, his pen arrayed Agrarian Summer School is widely recognised in the region against princes and powers near and far, in and out of and internationally, there is growing demand within the Global Zimbabwe, from state houses to mass media to cloistered South for participation in it. Many who have been through his academy. His life, labor and legacy stand tall and erect, a monument to scholarship and struggle alike. hands have gone off to do great things. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 20 Tributes as a student in 1989 which I found to be an original thinking in understanding the different typologies of state systems in The Pan-African World has been Africa, especially the peculiarity of state systems in the southern African context. This book was entitled: Zimbabwe: Robbed of one of its Finest and The Political Economy of Transition, edited by Ibbo Mandaza Progressive Scholars: A Tribute to and published by CODESRIA, 1987. Sam Moyo This book, in my humble view, built up on an earlier seminal work by Hamza Alavi, "The State in Post-Colonial Societies, New Left Review, 1972. The thesis developed by Hamza Alavi unarguably equipped academics and practitioners with a good Nana K. A. Busia, Jr* conceptual framework for analysing and understanding the characteristics of the post-colonial state and even predicting certain scenarios of the same. nce again Africa has lost one of its finest and In the said book, Political Economy of Transition, Mandaza, progressive towering intellectuals to an accident; yet Moyo et al, persuasively distinguished post white settler O another robbery. colony from the "normal" post -colonial societies. Specifically, When the sad and painful news of the death of a brother, they provided a sound paradigm in explaining the political comrade, and teacher like Professor Sam Moyo occurs, there economy of post white settler countries like Rhodesia– is a high temptation of getting into a conspiracy theory mood Zimbabwe, South West Africa–Namibia, and South Africa. of some sort. One such theory is the possibility of an invisible Sam Moyo’s chapter in the book dealt with his favourite theme hand behind a cleanly hatched plot to take away from us the of his celebrated expertise, the ‘Land Question’. It gave the few Africans who are dedicated to our perennial and protracted reader a very profound and penetrating analysis of the difficult struggle. Such conspiracy theories are lent credence by the question of land ownership and its redistribution in a post timing of these incidents; when such dedicated intellectuals white settler colony and how the same processes do impact are needed the most. class structure of post independent Zimbabwe and production Examples of incidents that make sense only within the context in the agricultural sector of its economy. This was my own of a conspiracy theory abound in our political history. At the baptism of the land politics in southern Africa and how that political revolutionary front, no serious observer of the African spills over into issues of human rights. political landscape is naïve to waste time to debate the issue The Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Studies of whether or not there is a conspiracy and a hidden hand (SARIPS) was established during this same period, mid-1980s, when we lost, as it were, the Samora Machels, Thomas and Sam was one of its founding researchers. Informed by the Sankaras, John Garang, Chris Hani et al to "accidents" or experiences of the region, the Institute produced numerous seemingly home grown assassinations. Those questions, to high quality publications on race, class and gender. Those all intents and purposes, are settled in the minds of were the days when one waited for the monthly publication, progressives however mysterious they are still made to appear. the SAPEM. Sam wrote numerous articles on land reform and But to lose some of our best and finest intellectuals/activists related it to complex issues of development, democracy, and of the likes of Claude Ake, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Sam human rights. They were so well written that even "lay Moyo, et al, to accidents makes it appear as if these accidents persons", like myself, felt we were experts of the land question are also planned to rob us of our progressive intellectuals in southern Africa. Small wonder then that Sam made enormous who are carrying out revolution by other means: activist contribution to the Zimbabwean land reform by heading scholarship directed at delivering the desired social justice. technical teams that advised the president. In the midst of the contemporary scramble for land in Africa The more I read Sam, the more I respected him as not just by trans-national companies under the pretext of extractive academic qua academic but a scholar with a clear sense of sector led growth in the southern African region as whole and mission and vision: social justice in Africa. He was against the South Africa in particular, Africa can ill afford to lose a precious politics of dominance. Sam believed, as was stated by one of gem like Sam Moyo, our beloved learned guru and passionate Africa’s great thinkers, Thandika Mkandawire, that Africa’s scholar of the political economy of land of our time. sovereignty should be extended to the "realm of scientific mastery of the continent’s reality and destiny". Sam Moyo, affectionately called Sam by friends and colleagues, like all great scholars of his stature, you meet and Truly, most of Sam’s works exposed mythologies of concepts know them before you meet them in person. In other words, I, and notions of land in Africa by "external", especially neo- like many others, read some of his writings and met him several liberal scholars. He deconstructed a lot of held theories on times in footnotes in the usual academic citations: "see Moyo, land as they related to peasants, state intervention, role of the S.," and also saw his writings quoted copiously by academics, market, who really were the producers food crops and cash students, and policy makers. crops in post white settler Zimbabwe. He was never shy of debating and exposing contradictions, paradoxes and ironies Even though I am not a student of agrarian studies in the in arguments by advocates of the status quo on land issues in formal sense, my interests in all matters pan-Africanist, drew Africa. Above all, he was an empiricist who sustained all his me to his passionate and incisive scholarship in regard to arguments with well researched data. such issues. This "Damascus moment" followed a book I read CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 21 Tributes Encountering Sam Moyo In 2004 when I was appointed by the United Nations (UN) as interests were wrapped up and presented as human rights. He a Senior Legal & Policy Advisor to Zimbabwe, effectively I lamented the appropriation of international law and human was the advisor on international human rights law in the rights for hegemonic politics in peripheral societies by country. Barely a week after my arrival in the country, I asked dominant actors in the global system. my driver to take me to SAPES to try and see Ibbo Mandaza, and Sam Moyo in person having met them only in "books" I learnt a lot from Sam. I eventually contracted him as a until then. When I got there, luckily I met Ibbo who was at consultant to develop a framework for a dialogue between post. After introducing myself and exchanging pleasantries I NGOs and the government on the difficult and politicised issue was given a visitors book to write in. I stated my admiration of civil society’s relationship with the government. To this for the progressive scholarship as championed by Ibbo and day, I have not come across any such comprehensive study Sam Moyo and wrote about how I met them when I read their that presents different typologies of civil society organizations book on political economy of transition especially the theory in the country and the complex interface with government, of post white settler colony and the land question. I inquired donors and how these factors play themselves out in CSOs about Sam, but he had left and a two month effort to track him work in the country. It was hailed as a masterpiece and blue was in vain. print which guided our work in the UN then. In August of that year, 2004, the government had proposed a With Sam the Professional, Political were also Bill to regulate the activities of NGOs. On the face of it, this Personal should have been treated like any other proposed Bill of a Feminist scholars in their deconstruction of held notions by legislature. But not in post 2000 Zimbabwe, after the land patriarchy have taught us many things. To them, no assumption reform. It was a highly polarized society, with several levels of is God/Allah given or natural. One such a case is the divide cleavages but mainly between the government, African between the public and the private. For instance, in missions, especially SADC countries on one hand, and the international human rights law, they concede that there is a opposition MDC, donors, and some NGOs on the other hand. private sphere and public realm, but rights are better protected According to the government, the Bill was the best thing that when these separate spheres exist in an organic relationship. ever happened since it was going to, in its view, regulate the Feminist scholars therefore enjoin us to analyse progressives activities of NGOs which were covertly involved in partisan on personal level to test their consistency. To all intents and party politics. To the other group, it was a draconian piece of purposes, Sam passed that test with flying colours. legislation at aimed undermining freedom of association and In recent years, the donor factor has resulted in some African expression in the country, and therefore a human rights issue. states, civil society, and even academic actors all playing games I had the unfortunate task of analysing and advising the UN to survive including shielding scientific truths that in their on the proper line to take on the Bill in line with international mind a donor may not like to hear. Sam would have none of and regional human rights standards. I presented the UN’s this dilemma. Sam as a scholar was first and foremost a scientist position which was balanced and seen as fair; a win-win who incessantly searched for the truth employing concepts situation for all actors. and dispassionate methodologies. Consequently, President Mugabe made it known to the However, his value position was the quest for social justice. Parliament that he was persuaded by the UN argument and Throughout the years that I knew him, he never apologized will not sign the Bill into law. This situation brought me into for that. This explains the principled position he took in favour contact with a spectrum of the national and international actors of land reform in Zimbabwe and his disagreement with the in the country, including one Sam Moyo whom I was told, market-driven argument that any state intervention in the land wanted to see me about the NGO Bill. I wondered if it was the would distort the market. He was always looking out for the same Sam Moyo, whose works I had read and had poor and the disenfranchised in our societies. I remember unsuccessfully tried to track down. It happened to be him! At engaging him on Goran Hyden’s theory of uncaptured our meeting, his first reaction was that the legal analysis I had peasants and the experience of Ujama in Tanzania as an done was contextual, fair and balanced. I told him how pleased experiment that died at birth because land should not be made I was to meet him in person, an encounter which led to us available to any poor peasant to "waste" as Goran Hyden et al signing a covenant of brotherhood in our hearts and re- argued. affirming our mutual belief in the pan-Africanism. This engagement was a deliberate provocation to get his Zimbabwe was never the same for me as he became my prop insights about the status quo in South Africa and the media- and guided me through a lot of political landmines. Sam was driven sensational discourse on Zimbabwe post 2000 land intellectually honest and had made it a point to be on the side reform. His answers were always analytical, nuanced and of justice. In the polarized Zimbabwe of that time, each group dispassionate. He always arrived at conclusions that had social took an absolute position with no room for grey areas. A scholar justice and human rights as the end state and showing that like Sam would not simplistically and blindly follow any group. these goals are not inhibitive to efficient agricultural He took a fundamental position that land reform was to production. empower poor peasants and ordinary folks that each group felt he was not on their side. He never, like Amicar Cabral, romanticised the peasants and their abilities and limitations. On the private personal level, Sam knew when invocation of human rights was really about Sam was the same; very nice and just person, who took friends, the rights of people and when certain national strategic CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 22 Tributes of humour and satire. I will forever miss Sam’s giggles and brothers and sisters seriously. His house in Harare became a teases of Africans. Nothing amused him most than pretentious home and a rendezvous for comrades and brothers, and was petty bourgeois life style of some of the political classes. very good at entertaining. I was always invited to his house in Sam will Live Long After his Death Harare for an event. And he saw to it that every guest was very happy chez lui. My personal consolation at this painful hour is that scholars of the stature of Sam never die, for generations to come, no Each time I got visitors such as Tajudeen visiting me in student, serious academic, and policy maker can produce any Zimbabwe, I knew the first guest would be Sam. We could credible study or policy document on complex issues of land discuss intellectual issues until dawn. He was very good with in Africa, without ploughing through the numerous works his beers with Taju as I watched on as an amateur. Later, in handed down by Professor Sam Moyo. He did a lot of good 2008, when I had to go to Sierra Leone to take up another for the pan-African world. We will all sorely miss Sam! Viva assignment with the UN, I made sure I advised the UN to get Sam! him over to help with land issues in that country, and between 2009 and 2010 he did a brilliant job for the government with * Fellow/Guest Lecturer, International Law, School of Advanced Study, policy papers on land reform in that country some of which ICWS, University of London & Member of the Inner Temple, Inns have already informed new legislation and repeal of others. of Court of England & Wales. Former Senior Legal and Policy Whenever he visited, he stayed with me for some time and as Advisor of the UN in Zimbabwe, 2004-2007. always, his company was joyous with incredible high sense

Professor Sam Moyo’s funeral Today was an incredible day. Zimbabweans came to mourn a beloved son, and were impressed by all the outpourings from around the world. Praveen Jha’s tribute had a beautiful Pablo Neruda poem in his tribute which was read at the burial service as was Shivji’s poem to Sam. Also read was Madam Zuma’s letter. Mourners came from far and near and included members of government in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The academics present were asked to be pallbearers, so we all went and carried Sam’s coffin to the hearse. There was a lot of high emotion at different points, but the most difficult was when Quondisile spoke so movingly about her father’s love for his daughters.The music was sublime and very comforting. After the service, we drove to Glen forest, a new private cemetry to bury Sam. Those who wanted to, were invited to put a single white rose in the grave. There was a CODESRIA delegation of eight – myself, the current Executive Secretary, two former executive secretaries, one executive committee member and one former executive committee member, one staff member and a former staff member. Now we have laid Sam to rest, may the healing process begin and may we begin to work in different ways to be true to his legacy. Dzodzi Tsikata CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 23 Tribute Sam’s Children were the Light of his Life continued to nurture relationships with like-minded intellectuals he had connected with outside his home environment, such as with the Trinidadian scholar David Johnson. Dede Amanor-Wilks Sam’s talent for adding value put those who lived or worked with him under great pressure. Anyone who stepped into his home office would be put to work, researching issues, editing ne of the amazing things about Sam Moyo is that documents, staying up till 3am to ensure work would be though he led a thoroughly professorial life, writing submitted on time because Sam was always very professional papers, attending conferences and publishing books O about meeting his deadlines. and articles, Sam always had time for people. He loved people in the greatest sense and that love was returned in equal Sam’s kindness was legendary. He always extended a helping measure, as shown by the outpouring of emotions since his hand and would never reject any plea for assistance. There fatal accident two weeks ago. were weekend invitations for almost everyone he met and at Christmas he would invite development partners who had not From the start of our marriage in 1992, it was apparent that been able to make it home. His kindness and his dynamism family life was very important to Sam. Every Sunday we visited ensured that there were always people in our home, including Gogo (Sam’s mother, Mavis Moyo) and some of his siblings in many enduring friends who are mourning this week all over Harare, Lindiwe and Phahla, or Rhey and Julie, or Mabhena the world. and Winnie. Outside Harare, Sam always looked for opportunities to visit Nkosana in London, John and Sharon in Sam and I enjoyed a fruitful marital and intellectual Lusaka, and Mike in Gweru, or Josh Nyoni who was practically collaboration for many years. Though our marriage ran a brother. Other regular family visits were to Gogo Khethiwe aground in the 2000s, we remained great friends, regularly in and Khulu Liberty Mhlanga, or to Auntie Sheila, or to the touch over our mutual interests, primarily the children and Mubis and Munyatis. Among other close friends who were also, inevitably, the inexhaustible topic of the political economy like family members, Sam considered Chloe Paul as a kindred of Africa. spirit. Sam’s children were the light of his life. Sibongile, Thabisile, Samantha, Qondisile and Zandile brought him such joy and inspired him to build and keep building for the future. Because Sam Moyo; Our Colleague, of his busy travel schedule, Sam could not attend every school event of his children, but he made time to mentor them. When Mentor, and Friend they were young his mentoring was about monitoring their behaviour and inculcating decent values. As they grew older, it was about their education and professional development. Godwin Murunga Sam loved going on trips wi amily and regularly took the girls to Victoria Falls or to places like Bulawayo, Great Zimbabwe, Lake Kariba, Hwange National Park, South Africa, Beira and Chobe National Park. inally, we rested Sam Moyo; our colleague, mentor, and Equal to Sam’s love for people was his love of ideas. By pulling friend; our inspiration on how to conduct research and together people and ideas, Sam created great value in the world. Fmake your conclusion irrespective of what political He was an institution builder who drew people to his cause. persuasion one wants to pigeon-hole you into. Sam's body With Yemi Katerere, he had set up the Zimbabwe Environment was interned at Glen Forest Cemetery, very close to his home. Research Organisation (ZERO) while on the staff of the Tears have a way of deciding when to flow liberally and they Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies of the University did today. What can we say, who will we rely on for refined of Zimbabwe. After the SAPES years with Ibbo Mandaza, Sam theoretical and conceptual analysis that was located in sound created the African Institute of Agrarian Studies and a recent empirical data? It certainly is a tough question to ask; difficult great innovation was the establishment of Agrarian South to answer and of course the Daily Nation did not help much journal. Sam’s engagement with Codesria was always pivotal with its misplaced title to my column. But at least, at a personal and he valued deeply his relationship with scholars such as level, I was blessed to walk with a titan when I served on the Thandika Mkandawire and Adebayo Olukoshi, not to mention CODESRIA Executive Committee. Life has afforded me rare the numerous South African scholars whom he visited and privileges in the academy; it continues to afford me those was visited by frequently. Among feminist scholars with whom privileges. I can only be grateful. My colleagues Bhekinkosi Sam engaged during the 1990s, Elinor Batezat Sisulu, Patricia Moyo, Pinkie Mekgwe, Tendai Muriso and Adebayo Olukoshi; McFadden, Micere Mugo and Ama Ata Aidoo were important my sister Thoko Didiza were present and we were sitting figures. From his youthful days as a student in Sierra Leone together. There were many others including Ebrima Sall, during the Rhodesian era and later as a teacher in Nigeria, Sam LenkaBula Puleng, and Mzee Thandika Mkandawire. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 24 Tribute Président du Forum Mondial des Alternatives pour l’Afrique australe. Il était le directeur de l’African Institute for Agrarian A la Mémoire de Sam Moyo Studies ; et cette institution majeure comptait elle-même parmi les membres les plus actifs du « réseau de réseaux » que constituent le Forum du Tiers monde et le Forum Mondial des Samir Amin et Alternatives. Bernard Founou-Tchuigoua Les travaux de Sam et de ses collègues ont fait l’objet de Forum du Tiers Monde et Forum Mondial des Alternatives nombreuses publications remarquées. Deux ouvrages collectifs parus quelques mois seulement avant la mort tragique de Sam portent l’empreinte de sa magnifique contribution : a disparition brutale de Sam Moyo nous a laissé sans The struggle for food sovereignty, Alternative Development voix. Sam était un ami personnel très cher. L and the Renewal of Peasant Society today ed by Remy Herrera Sam comptait parmi les fondateurs des activités que nous and Kin Chi Lau (Publication du Forum Mondial des animons depuis plusieurs dizaines d’années dans le cadre du Alternatives, Pluto Press, London 2015). Forum du Tiers Monde et du Forum Mondial des Alternatives. Réponses radicales aux crises agraires et rurales africaines, D’emblée, lorsque nous nous sommes rencontrés, nous avons sous la direction de Bernard Founou-Tchuigoua et compris qu’il était, au-delà de ses qualités de chercheur Abdourahmane Ndiaye (Publication CODESRIA, Dakar 2014). scientifique cultivé et intelligent, un militant courageux et déterminé de la cause des peuples et des nations, de la sienne L’un des auteurs de ce dernier ouvrage, notre ami Issaka (le Zimbabwe) et de celles de l’Afrique et du Grand Sud. Notre Bagayogo est lui également disparu en 2015. collaboration étroite n’a donc jamais cessé de nous rapprocher Les textes produits par Sam sont et resteront au centre des chaque jour davantage. préoccupations de tous ceux qui poursuivent son combat pour Les travaux majeurs de Sam s’organisaient autour de la l’Afrique et ses paysans. question agraire. Sam avait compris que le déploiement de la stratégie de l’impérialisme ne pouvait rien produire d’autre que la destruction sauvage et tragique des mondes ruraux et paysans en Afrique et en Asie. The Grim Reaper came too early Sam avait pris toute la mesure de la mise en œuvre systématique for my brother, Sam de cette politique criminelle à partir de l’expérience de son propre pays : des millions de paysans expropriés pour donner les terres de leurs ancêtres à quelque milliers de colons. Il en Jomo Kwame Sundaram avait saisi le sens dramatique et de ce fait pris résolument parti pour la réforme agraire entreprise par Mugabe, quelles qu’en soient les limites que Sam mesurait, et dénoncé l’hypocrisie am and I met through Codesria two decades ago, and de la Grande Bretagne qui se refuse toujours à honorer ses CODESRIA made possible much of our subsequent engagements dans ce domaine. Scamaraderie and even collaboration. There was a special affinity we shared, but I truly admired how he had strived Sam ne se contentait pas d’analyser la réalité et d’en dénoncer patiently over so many years to advance his nuanced analysis la tragédie. Il a apporté une contribution majeure à la formulation of the Zimbabwe agrarian reforms against the dominant de l’alternative humaine en réponse au défi ; et dans cet esprit Western narrative of it being an unmitigated disaster. Even his précisé ce que pourrait être un projet souverain de dévelop- eventual international vindication was due to the Western pement authentiquement national et populaire, porteur publication of a UK collaborator’s study rather than to d’avancées démocratiques et, dans son cadre, d’un projet de renouveau de la production paysanne. Il savait situer le appropriate acknow-ledgement of his own pioneering findings. combat pour l’avancée de cette alternative dans son cadre But as others have noted, Sam put this in perspective and was politique national et international ; il savait que ce combat appreciative of the vindication and did not begrudge the others était indissociable de la lutte des peuples contre l’impérialisme for a moment. d’hier et d’aujourd’hui. Il avait le courage d’en analyser les At the risk of sounding like an unoriginal cliché, Sam truly tenants et aboutissants et de confronter les propositions qu’il sought not only to interpret the world, but also to change it. en déduisait aux mauvais arguments des défenseurs du The world has changed and all of us with it. prétendu néolibéralisme. When I joined the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Sam était devenu un pilier de nos groupes de réflexion sur la in mid-2012, there were few people I could turn to, who had question agraire en Afrique et dans le Sud. A ce titre il avait retained serious interest in agrarian challenges in the face of organisé de magnifiques tables rondes – entre autre à the changing fads of the last few decades. Thus, as my l’occasion de nos interventions dans les Forums Sociaux attention returned to agrarian issues in recent years, I came to Africains et Mondiaux – permettant aux meilleurs des rely on his counsel ever more. Consequently, I saw more of spécialistes des trois continents, engagés dans les luttes avec Sam than almost any other collaborator. leurs peuples et leurs paysans, d’examiner ensemble ce qu’il y avait de particulier à chacune de leur expérience et ce qui les Years before, we had surveyed the self-destructive trajectory réunissait dans un combat commun pour l’émancipation sociale of the major better Western academic journals on agrarian et politique de toutes les nations concernées. Sam était le Vice problems, but it was Sam who acted on this analysis with his CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 25 Tribute initiative, Agrarian South. Sam’s commitment was also evident in his efforts over the years, which others can better testify to. A complex personal history may go some way to explaining In Ghana last year, while addressing inequality, he articulated Sam’s remarkable, incisive and visionary intellect, and the – for posterity – a masterly overview of the three main agrarian manner in which this was coupled with all-embracing transformations in Africa with his typical modesty. This year, generosity of spirit. The rigorous scholarly work he carried in Accra again, he sensitized trade union activists in Africa to out in collaboration with so many was driven by Sam’s deep the agrarian question. Before that, in Hangzhou, a capital of commitment to serving, and facilitating the liberation of China centuries ago, he spoke to the contemporary relevance oppressed and marginalized peoples, across the South. His of the historic 1955 Afro-Asian solidarity conference. In roots in rural Zimbabwe as well as in urban township between, while in Rome, he took time off with my wife to tour communities lent him profound insight into the land-questions historic sites in the eternal city. In Durban in September, we that continue to stall justice and democratization, but which – conspired on what we should and would do together next. properly addressed – would end poverty and inequality in Zimbabwe, the rest of Africa, and across the former colonies El Che spoke of the revolutionary being profoundly inspired of the South. His multiple racial and cultural identifications by love. Sam loved his daughters and his partner Beatrice, made him a voracious traveller who was able to engage deeply always speaking of them with great affection and pride. He with people across ideological, cultural, national and was always loyal to his friends, but also found ways of disciplinary borders, to vigorously debate ideas wherever he acknowledging and addressing differences. As an experienced went, inspiring and mobilizing across generations. political activist, he painstakingly tried to persuade others to seek compromises in the larger interest. Yet, he also knew Few, if any, of us could pass through Harare without being when to act decisively. invited home, to ‘gist,’ to drink and eat the pots of food he would produce with abandon. Sam stirred many things beyond A luta continua. I believe Sam would echo Joe Hill in saying, belly-filling food. Chez Sam, we ate well, but most of all we don’t mourn, organize. feasted on the intense intellectual and political debates he also liked to stir up, stretching our minds as well as our bellies. Few of us will forget the winning embrace of his smile or the warmth of his big brotherly hugs – these earned him the Goodbye Sam: Brother, Comrade, affection that girded the respect colleagues, friends and Fighter and Friend community felt for him. The African Institute for Agrarian Studies, established in 2002 was the pioneering initiative that Sam dedicated himself to for the last thirteen years of his energetic career, a remarkable Amina Mama endeavour that grew to span three continents, bringing together people-focused land expertise from African, Latin America and Asia. His death in India, tragic and shocking as it is for us all, occurred when he was doing what he was most otoka International Airport, Accra, was the last place committed to, what he most loved. Colleagues and fellow I ran into Sam, seated in the departure lounge after a travellers, we owe it to Sam to continue to pursue his vision, Kworkshop on the land questions that he devoted his and to collectivise the mission he discovered in the course of intellectual life to. We shared a beer, talked with intimacy about his brutally foreshortened life, for posterity, for the liberation his life and mine, how both are inflected with the disparate of the still dispossessed. ancestral and present-day contradictions that typify our generation, and discussed how these might inform both Sam was no angel, as the women he has loved in the course of intellectual endeavours and activism. On this occasion, Sam six decades of a life fully lived can surely testify. At the same reflected on the early days he spent in Calabar, Nigeria, and time, his unadulterated joie de vivre was one of his most how the very different organization of land that he found In endearing features – even as we worried about his health at West Africa transformed his hitherto Southern African times! We need not have. Death was to take him away from us thinking. We reminisced too, recalling earlier visions of what ahead of his old age, and at the prime of his activist-intellectual the African scholarly community could become. A favourite life. This tragic end also snatched Sam away from a new chapter we shared is the often-discussed dream of an ‘African Bellagio’ in his personal life, with his equally courageous fighter for (which we would name differently, of course), possibly on the human rights, Beatrice Mtetwa. Beatrice, my heart goes out to shores of Lake Malawi, where African scholars and researchers you – your pain must be unimaginable, inconsolable. Know could overcome the vagaries of our variously precarious that you have the love and support of us all, and a life to live, conditions, coming together to concentrate our best energies people to serve. and skills, to re-inspire and re-connect, and to pursue the Sam will surely live on in our hearts, our ideas, in our actions, redistributive transformations that lie ahead, that we know and in our vision of a liberated and just Africa. must happen. Goodbye Beloved Comrade. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 26 Sam Moyo: Speeches from the Archives

We are proud that CODERIA has Sustained itself over the Decades

Acceptance Statement by Sam Moyo after his election as CODESRIA’s President at the 12th General Assembly in Yaounde, 2008

would like once more to thank all those represented at the streamlining the scope and quality of the planned programmes 12th General Assembly of CODESRIA held in Yaounde, for has been underway for a few years. placing the confidence in me by electing me the new I It will however be important in pursuing this task to adapt to President of CODESRIA for the coming three years. Having the emerging dynamic context of change. First, there is growing been involved with CODESRIA over the last 30 years I am interest in the work of and knowledge produced through extremely honoured to be able to serve CODESRIA in its CODESRIA by a broader base of African scholars and civil support to the various generations of African scholarship in society activists, as well as by some governments and Pan the social sciences. I will always remember that it was through Africa institutions. Second, there is greater attention being the CODESRIA that some of us were first able to publish an paid to the social science research and publications emerging article, under the mentorship of its then leadership, and drawing from Africa, among scholars and analysts outside of Africa, inspiration from the vitality of the emerging and growing particularly in the ‘west’, and more recently in the ‘south’ and community of African scholarship. I am gratified that many of ‘east’. These tendencies place greater demands on CODESRIA our senior scholars are here to witness the broader base of to promote the capacity of African scholars not only to meet younger scholarship that has evolved from their vision of by the adequate (quantitatively and qualitatively) needs of establishing CODESRIA. these constituencies, within a focus and direction led by the We are proud that CODESRIA has sustained itself over the African scholarship, but also to consolidate the critical African decades, through successive executive leaderships. In perspectives, within the wider hegemonic world of knowledge particular, I want to reiterate my personal gratitude, as well on production. behalf of the General Assembly, to the out-going Executive Third, the material and social circumstances which we live in Secretary, Prof. Adebayo Olukushi for his sterling work and have in the last few years been changing dramatically. The dedication to CODESRIA, over the last eight years. His was a unfolding financial and economic crises, following on the back complex challenge, at times highly conflicted, of managing the of the earlier food and energy crises, within the context of most recent leadership and organisational transition that relentless wars and conflict, are rapidly undermining the social CODESRIA has undergone. For, it was not too long ago that and political conditions of Africa’s growing poor. Indeed, the the institution faced the threat of division and loss of direction structural changes and the reconfiguration of state and or even collapse!! We recognise his efforts towards international poor relations which are underway, are so resuscitating the COSEDRIA Secretariat’s tireless service to significant that the very premises of knowledge making and African scholars whose vision remains to sustain a flourishing the nature of knowledge required by African societies and the social science intellectual community, and to develop effective rest of the world, have a per force to be adapted. This will systems of promoting knowledge production and disse- require that CODESRIA revisits most of the dominant .mination on the continent. conceptual frameworks and epistemological perspectives, as I wish also to congratulate the other 9 scholars who were well as the phenomena or issues, that it has focused on over elected, from Africa’s 5 regions, to the present Executive the last 15 years, and lead the production of alternative Committee of CODESRIA. We thank them all for accepting the knowledge. Thus, as we redefine and streamline the existing onerous but honourable task of serving the social science intellectual agenda and programmes, CODESRIA needs to community for next 3 years. Together, the new Executive innovate. Committee is committed to fulfil their primary responsibility of Therefore, the second major task of the Executive Committee overseeing the effective implementation of CODESRIA and Executive Secretariat is to design new programmes that programmes within the framework of the CODESRIA Charter, can consolidate CODESRIA’s position within the social policies and procedures. Indeed, it has been emphasized here science community and in society. Various speakers at the 12th that we will need to strengthen the accountability of General Assembly suggested a range of initiatives which CODESRIA, not only in terms of the use of its resources, but CODESRIA could pursue in response to the above changing also in terms of improving its inclusiveness, reporting to and context, and create the basis for future work. One is that communication with the membership, as well as by mobilising CODESRIA may need to ensure that African scholars are at wider participation in a broader range of programmes. the centre of articulating the nature of the current world Fortunately, this specific task, as pronounced here by economic crisis and its configuration in Africa and, lead the participants at this General Assembly, of consolidating the intellectual redefinition and of the developmental agenda and new de-established governance system, while refining and CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 27 social adaptations required to withstand the crisis, in order to effective organisation of the sound knowledge which is being sustainably reproduce African society in the world context. accumulated on and about the continent. Related to this, CODESRIA may need to more innovatively A critical dimension of such innovation will be to find more address the perennial specific socio-economic problems which effective and flexible tools, which can be used to attract and affect Africa. A case in point is the need to resolve Africa’s mobilise a wider range of middle to senior African scholars on agrarian questions, vis-à-vis various models of agrarian the continent, as well as abroad, to play a more meaningful change, which have recently been placed on the agenda by role in the execution of COSEDRIA’s wider mission. All of this external actors. In particular, the African food issue, within the will mean deepening the CODESRIA membership, reforming fragile context of a deficient world food production, trade and or refining existing tools and widening the instruments used energy system, and the threat of climate change, requires our to implement the programmes. attention, as do other specific issues. In addition the Executive Committee and membership of Furthermore, it has been argued here that African social CODESRIA will need to intensify their support to the Secre- scientists will need to create adequate fora through which to tariat’s efforts to create a stronger basis for the institutions lead the debates a variety of these ‘ground’ themes. Another financial and organisational sustainability. This will include pressing issue for instance is promoting an understanding of strengthening the Endowment or Development Fund of the nature and and sources of the conflicts faced by the CODESRIA on the one hand. On the other hand it requires continent, as well as the strategies required to manage these. serious efforts to re-invigorate CODESRIA’s relationships with The idea of regional integration, including the experiences of relevant African institutions, particularly through initiatives Pan Africanism and sub-regional economic cooperation, as which contribute to promoting the rebuilding of the capacities vehicles for moving the continent out of poverty and of African universities and related research initiatives. underdevelopment, as well to influence politics at the world Altogether, the consolidation of CODESRIA as an institution stage, also need to be thoroughly re-examined by scholars is necessary not only to ensure its continued relevance and and debated in position. sustainability, but also to engender the creation of strong and CODESRIA on the one hand faces the challenges of facilitating independent African voice. and grooming young social science scholars and of nurturing In conclusion, l wish to commend CODESRIA’s search process change within the academe, while promoting the rebuilding of for its appointment of Dr Ebrima Sall as the incoming Executive the appropriate institutions responsible for university training Secretary. I can not think of a more suitable person for this job, and basic research. On the other hand, CODESRIA needs to in terms of commitment, diligence and dedication to the ideals mobilise the whole range of scholars (from the first to the of CODESRIA. As a deep repository of the CODESRIA expe- latest generations) to engage at the world stage in debates on rience and institutional memory the efforts of the Executive the major social and political issues facing the continent. This Committee in support of the Secretariat can be expected to be requires promoting more rigorous research and the more less daunting.

From left: Bonaventure de Santos, Ebrima Sall and Sam Moyo at the General Assembly CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 28

The Political Economy of Transformation in Zimbabwe: Radicalisation, Structural Change and Resistance1

Keynote Lecture by Sam Moyo at the 13th General Assembly of CODESRIA, Rabat 2011

Introduction: Radicalisation, Structural Change and capital and imperialism. The process escalated through the Reform contradictions of a revolutionary situation, including an internal The dynamics of the world economic crises at the turn of this reconfiguration of political mobilisation in the former settler century have evoked a new generation of radicalisms across colony, and against external sanctions and political the globe, including the so-called Arab Spring. Notwithstanding destabilisation. It entailed experimentation with a new economic their distinctive characteristics related to their varied specific structure with a diversified set of external economic relationships conditions, radical movements have been innovative in and continued resistance through new forms of rural confronting universal social and political challenges. mobilisation, indigenisation initiatives and a foreign policy based Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), which on positive non-alignment. The anti-colonial land movement officially began in 2000, is one such experience of radical reform blended with contemporary resistance movements in the which redressed settler-colonial land dispossession and contemporary context of primitive accumulation, highlighting racialised inequalities. Despite the resultant social and structural the centrality of the emancipatory dimensions of the agrarian transformation, and the scope for a progressive development question, rather than the economic concerns often associated agenda and democratisation it represents, the land reform was with agrarian reform (see Moyo, Jha and Yeros 2013). widely dismissed as a case of African ‘despotism’, and subjected This experience represents an example of resistance emerging to ‘regime change’. This was not surprising given the out of the social crises generated by neoliberalism within a small pervasiveness of neoliberal triumphalism, and the persistent country of apparently limited geo-strategic importance, other dominance of social theories that characterise the African than its integral value as a former settler-colonial beachhead of experience with little regard for historical context and the imperialism, endowed with extensive mineral resources. evolving social facts on the ground. Zimbabwe has rowed against the current scramble for African Zimbabwe does not represent an ‘ideal type’ model of reform or land, mineral resources, energy and consumer markets, at a time one which deserves uncritical emulation. It is not a model of of significant material changes at the world system-level. Indeed, socialist revolution, for it did not result in one (Moyo and Yeros new geo-strategic facts are being established on the ground, in 2005, 2007a, 2011b). Nor can we teleologically foreclose the long- relation to the rising involvement of ‘emerging powers’ in term socio-political character of the outcome. Rather, it repre- competition for resource control, as well as the re-militarisation sents one of the rare instances of political and economic of US strategy in Africa (see Moyo, Jha and Yeros 2012; and radicalisation which resulted in a redistributive outcome due to Yeros forthcoming). While progressive internal reforms invite innovative socio-political mobilisation processes, interventio- aggressive external interventions and polarise politics, the nist state reforms and ongoing resistance, notwithstanding its experience shows that innovative national and regional attendant social and political contradictions. Yet, little scholarly responses can be mobilised effectively in their defence against attention was paid to the political and economic origins of the Western aggression and monopoly finance capital. Foreign social crisis that triggered the radicalisation (Moyo 2001; Moyo policy was effectively used to mobilise regional solidarity and and Yeros 2005), and to the wider implications of the outcomes support, capitalising on the room of manoeuvre created by the of the Zimbabwean reforms for the subcontinent (see Moyo rise of China (Moyo and Yeros 2013). and Yeros 2007a and b). Intellectual authority over the narrative on Zimbabwe’s land The roots of the radicalisation in Zimbabwe lie in persistent reform remains contested with regard to the causes, the nature local and national resistances to the racially structured model of and effects of the land reforms. Eurocentric perspectives, which capitalist accumulation achieved through colonial conquest from rely on the ubiquitous organising concept of‘neopatrimonialism’, 1890. Extensive social displacement and territorial segregation, in which the only relationship that exists in society is between the super-exploitation of local and regional labour, and rapacious black capitalists and their ethnicised client networks, discriminatory agrarian policies, had represented an extreme held sway for a while (Moyo and Chambati 2013). Failing to social injustice. This condition was not redressed by the understand the contradictions of Zimbabwe’s radicalisation, decolonisation pact of Zimbabwe in 1980, while the neoliberal such ‘authorities’ only saw a ‘destructive party accumulation economic policies adopted from 1990 exacerbated the situation, project’ (Raftopoulos 2010:706) and not the radicalisation of which degenerated into social crisis (Moyo 2000). This, in turn, various forces, including the semi-proletariat and aspiring black provoked labour protests and galvanised popular land bourgeoisie, against monopoly capital. Various intellectuals and occupations which fuelled the radical nationalist reforms which the Western media took recourse to racialised discourses of escalated from 1997 (see Moyo 2001). ‘corruption’ and ‘orchestration’, and vilified the whole of the land movement (see Johnson 2009), alleging that only the political Radicalisation in Zimbabwe entailed confrontation by an array elites benefited from the reforms. of social forces (classes) with settler-colonial power structures, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 29

The fact that the outcome was extensively redistributive, • The coordinated mobilisation of a national land despite the disproportionate gains of some elites and the movement for land reform, beyond the erstwhile market retention of some large-scale foreign- owned agro-industrial and bureaucratic framework, through a multi- class, estates and conservancies, was posited earlier on (e.g. Moyo decentralised and anti-bureaucratic formation, united by and Yeros 2005; Moyo et al. 2009; Moyo 2010), but this is radical nationalism; only recently being corroborated as a novel outcome • A process of structural reform that sought, as a matter of (Scoones, et al. 2010; Matondi 2013; Hanlon et al. 2013). state policy, the accommodation of various social forces Although a full recovery of agricultural output to the 1990s as concretised in a tri-modal outcome of land distribution, levels (which ought not to be seen as ideal targets) is slowly leading to competing modes of agrarian production; coming to fruition, the reforms continue to face various internal • The re-configuration of agrarian markets through state and external political and economic constraints (Moyo and intervention to sustain the recovery of production, Nyoni 2013). However, agrarian relations have improved despite the resurgence of social differentiation and substantially, with agrarian labour relations having been competing accumulation strategies; and diversified within the new land tenure relations (Chambati 2013) • The emergence of new rural movements seeking and the scope for smaller producers on some markets having progressive agrarian been opened wide, as popular participation in and benefits reforms and indigenous control of natural resources, in the from the wider agrarian economy grow (Moyo and Nyoni 2013). recent context of the scramble for Africa resources. Despite the emerging consensus on some of the basic outcomes, there remain important differences in our Historical context of the Fast Track Land Reform understanding of the political and socio-economic To understand the radicalisation of Zimbabwe after its implications of the reform, and the policies required to neoliberal turn in the 1990s, the nature of capitalist agrarian progressively advance popular welfare. Neopatrimonial accumulation and the character of the decolonisation pact perspectives which obscure the structural power of monopoly- must be clarified. Racial monopolistic control over land, water finance capital, because they reduce all social relations to resources, farm subsidies, and public infrastructural localised and ethnicised categories of domination and investments had by 1930 established about 6000 white settlers resistance, continue to argue for further market liberalisation on large-scale ‘commercial’ farms based on private property to counter state interventions. Liberal populist frameworks relations. Their accumulation trajectory derived from the applaud the new livelihoods being realised as evidence of super-exploitation of migrant labour from the reserves created autonomous peasant’ agency vis-a-vis the state (Scoones et at the expense of African peasantries relegated to marginal al. 2010) obviating the need for enhanced interventions, and lands (Amin 1972), and discriminatory agrarian markets and highlight the fact that some black farmers are doing as well as subsidies. From the 1950s, the accumulation trajectory was the previous white farmers without the privileges derived from augmented by the creation of large-scale agro-industrial state subsidies (Hanlon et al. 2013). Others persist in their estates, also heavily subsidised by the state (Moyo 2010). By belief that the return of private property relations will stimulate 1970, Zimbabwe’s bimodal landholding structure, based on recovery (Matondi 2012), despite the limits imposed by the the incomplete dispossession of peasant lands, had resulted external squeeze on the economy. not in creating ‘enclaves’, but a functional dualism which repressed labour and peasant farming. Farm output had shifted The systemic role of monopoly capital and extroverted markets from peasant food production towards export commodities in shaping the emerging uneven accumulation trajectory and and urban markets, dominated by large farmers in alliance with the absence of credit for food cropping, as the re-insertion of state marketing boards and monopoly capital. This big capital into the new agrarian structure ensues, tends to be accumulation model was in crisis by 1975, following the oil glossed over (Moyo 2011b; Moyo and Chambati 2013). The crisis and the escalating liberation war. new market contradictions that have emerged from price repression inscribed in the growth of contract farming in the Since decolonisation in Southern Africa was delayed in the capitals from the East and West, as well as domestic white and 1960s, a combination of armed and political struggle led to black capital compete to capture the new landholders’ military victories in the Lusophone territories, and negotiated products, suggesting the need for renewed state interven- transitions from 1980 in Zimbabwe, 1990 in Namibia, and 1994 tionism. Yet, the importance of recent state interventions in in South Africa. An integrated, thirty-year regional conflict, favour of small and new producers is being occluded in involving the destabilisation of the region by the Apartheid emerging discourses which argue for competitiveness on world regime in South Africa, saw aggression being used as a lever markets (despite their volatility), and decry the ‘evils’ of of negotiation, until the whole region succumbed to a ‘dependence’ on state ‘subsidies’ (USAID 2012). Thus, generalised pact in the 1990s, at the close of the cold war accumulation from below remains constricted, and new forms (Moyo and Yeros 2013). This entailed peace, independence of social differentiation increasingly polarise the benefits of and majority rule, in return for property guarantees, and the reform. economic opening to monopoly and finance capital, such that decolonisation and neoliberalism coincided; the one being Four aspects of the results of research conducted on the conditional on the other (ibid). The Anglo-American FTLRP since 2000 by a range of scholars, under the rubric of guarantors of the Zimbabwe negotiations promised financing the African Institute of Agrarian Studies (see Moyo and for the proposed market-led land redistribution programme, Chambati 2013), and their implications for reform elsewhere, but such support was limited (Moyo 1999). are discussed namely: CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 30

The pact was always unstable, despite the defeat of previous persisted (Moyo 2008). This escalated in the mid-2000s, plans which had sought to retain white political privileges following a series of world-wide energy, food and financial indefinitely. In Zimbabwe, some in the nationalist movement crises. Under degenerating world-systemic conditions, the led by the Patriotic Front parties (ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU), merchant path2 of smaller scale and scattered land viewed the pact as a strategic objective-seeking piecemeal concentration, which had been emerging in the 1990s in non- reforms, and eventually the growth of a black middle class, settler Africa, was being overtaken by a wider process of large- while others saw the pact as a tactical move, intended to scale land alienation led by foreign capital itself, often with consolidate political gains and prepare for the next phase of domestic allies. This alienation is now installing a new ‘junker’ the struggle. For imperialism, it was a tactical retreat intended path3 in non-settler Africa, as the accumulation trajectory to cut its losses, and to use economic statecraft to regain its rapidly evolves beyond the structures inherited at indepen- monopoly position. This contestation was never fully dence in the 1960s. resolved as the diverse elements among the security forces The African agrarian question is increasingly focused on the and their political parties sought control of the military social questions of exclusion, inequality, food insecurity and apparatus and as South African destabilisation seriously poverty, resulting from growing land dispossession, the unsettled the balance. This fuelled the Matabeleland conflict super-exploitation of labour and unequal trade and financial from 1982 to 1987, while the generalisation of the pact to flows (Moyo, Tsikata and Diop 2013). Demands for popular Namibia and South Africa, raised false hopes for a regional sovereignty over land, minerals, oil and natural resources, now peace and development dividend. referred to as ‘resource nationalism’, place the political In the 1980s, Zimbabwe had been hailed as a model of political dimension of land rights ahead of the agrarian question of transition for the settler societies of Southern Africa, whereby reversing ‘backwardness’ through industrial development. majority rule was conditioned on property guarantees. It was The politics of land is most explosive where the inequalities also lauded for enhancing food security, despite the prevalence fuse class with race, nationality and ethnic differences, as well of food insecurity among 30 per cent of its population (Moyo as with the gender inequities derived from the pervasive 1986), and it was considered a pilot project for market-led land patriarchal order. Indeed, while the nascent domestic petty reform despite its failures to redistribute adequate land (Moyo bourgoisie, in alliance with transnational capital and donors, 1995). Although white political privileges were phased out, is actively involved in the current land grabs, resistance to Zimbabwe remained a racially divided society, in which the this process is a constant feature. defence of ‘human rights’ served mainly to protect white What makes Zimbabwe relatively unique or different now is property and race-based privilege. Neocolonialism in that it has proposed new ways of deepening the transition to Zimbabwe, not only relegated the majority population to a majority rule by means of radical land reform, and as happened permanent process of semi-proletarianisation and super- elsewhere in Africa after decolonisation, through an exploitation, it also constricted the emergence of a black ‘indigenisation and empowerment’ programme, focused on the middle class with roots of its own in the economy. The mining sector. This has challenged the dominant neoliberal structural violence inherent in this ‘post-white settler’ type of orthodoxy, ignited ‘resource nationalism’ to challenge Africa’s neocolonialism (Mandaza 1985) was never pacified by potential ‘recolonisation’, and raised expectations for far- piecemeal reforms, and when the country entered structural reaching land reforms in other former settler colonies. adjustment, even the visible social gains of the prior decade were reversed (Yeros 2002). Radicalised Land Reform Movement: From a longer historical perspective, the accumulation needs Decentralised, Anti-Bureaucratic Alliance of the petty- bourgeoisie could not be realised as the new The land movement was initiated by popular rural and urban neoliberal conditions of the 1990s created obstacles to mobilisation under the leadership of liberation war veterans, accumulation and entrenched racial differentiation. The petty- against the immediate policy of the ruling party and the state. bourgeoisie was soon forced back into a popular, inter-class The nationalist leadership stepped in during 1997, when it black alliance against the status quo dominated by settler and risked losing its most critical social bases, the peasantry and foreign capital. The process was also fuelled by the social the war veterans, given that the latter permeated the security crisis (wage repression, retrenchments, etc) which generated forces of the state apparatus. Its purpose was to control and greater labour militancy around 1995 and the escalation of co-opt the land movement, as well as to open a political space scattered land occupations from 1996, reviving historic land for the expression of pent up land demands among layers of movements (Moyo 2001). The sudden emergence of a political the population, including many land occupations which were opposition backed by white farmers, capital, NGOs and western not directly organised by war veterans. Most crucially, the states, further entrenched the polarisation of land and state accommodated the interests of the aspiring black electoral politics. Zimbabwe’s liberal model was thus bourgeoisie through a bifurcated land redistribution pro- unravelled as expropriatory land reforms took hold thereafter gramme, providing for both peasant and small-scale capitalist (Moyo 2001). farming. It also spared from redistribution certain farms owned At the time Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform took off, a by foreign capital, the state, and public trusts, ostensibly to new wave of large-scale land and resource grabbing had been maintain some critical food supplies and agro-industrial underway in Africa from the 1990s, especially in countries capacity, while promising to indigenise the foreign capital such as Mozambique and Zambia with land concentration and (Moyo 2010). the privatisation of landed property creeping in, while the From the beginning, streamlining the land movement was extroversion of agrarian production relations and markets critical to the state. It created District Land Committees in all CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 31 the provinces, and supported the Committees of Seven on course in the late 1990s towards a radical approach, while each farm, while diminishing the powers of local war veterans seeking to control the land movement. The ‘pro-democracy’ who were the vanguard of the land movement. In their place, alliance, which claimed to be the vanguard of ‘progressive’ civil servants, chiefs, and other war veterans, not connected politics in Zimbabwe, sought credit for the ruling party’s directly to local struggles, were installed, thereby broadening opting for a radical land reform programme (Raftopoulos 2009), and diluting the representation and class character of the land as if there was no real political or historical basis for such movement. Over the following years, gaining firm control over radicalisation. With the mounting evidence of extensive land the movement was, however, made difficult by the war redistribution challenging neopatrimonialist claims of veterans’ decentralised and anti-bureaucratic character, whose ethnicised elite capture, there is now a veiled acknowledgment agency was enabled by historic and organic roots of social of the vanguard role of the land movement. This role is however mobilisation developed during the armed struggle, and their rendered as a mere component, together with the MDC alliance, encouragement of pre-existing localised land occupation of a broader ‘passive revolution’, that has ‘remained largely movements. This structure of the land movement is the first under the control of the state’, and putatively one that has distinctive feature underlying the success of this mass ‘largely politically marginalised the majority of the population’ mobilisation,4 unlike other representative organisations, (Raftopoulos 2010:707). Such an interpretation obscures the including the formally constituted Zimbabwe National distinctive features of a rare mass mobilisation, involving a Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA). Unlike mass range of forces which confronted the white agrarian monopoly mobilisations elsewhere, in Zimbabwe, this decentralised and the imperialist alliance as a whole, to the effect of structure was unified by the principle of radical nationalism. broadening the social base of the economy. The second distinctive characteristic of Zimbabwe’s radicali- Part of the conceptual difficulties facing those who have sation was the extensive rural-urban spread of the land move- opposed the petty- bourgeoisie outright arises largely because ment, in terms of active membership and physical participation some political elites gained more than others through the A2 in the land occupations.5 The leadership of the land move- scheme. Masuko (2012) and Sadomba (2012) have argued that ment included local peasant leaders, local war veterans, spiri- black capital never really broke ranks with monopoly capital tual leaders, some chiefs, and various working class activists, and that it acted solely on the latter’s behalf to control the intellectuals, and political party leaders, in a cross-class al- land movement. Yet, the process of radicalisation integrated liance. Such local leaders played a vanguard role in galvani- diverse class interests, including the petty-bourgeoisie and sing the mobilisation of long-standing grievances over land the semi-proletariat, against the white agrarian faction of and racial inequality. Political parties, farmers’ unions, trade monopoly capital. The breaking of ranks with monopoly unions, and NGOs had not only lacked sufficient interest or capital is exemplified in the fact that the state redistributed organic roots in the land question, they were also structurally over 5,000 properties, over and above the estimated 1,000 incapable of bridging the rural-urban gap in the interest of properties that were actually occupied by the land movement, mass mobilisation. The land movement incorporated urban and such acquisitions persisted beyond the immediate elements into rural land occupations and promoted land occu- election contests (Moyo 2011a). While this radicalisation did pations in urban areas for residential purposes. This overca- not result in a socialist revolution, or in a generic ‘passive me the occupational corporatism of trade unions and farmers’ revolution’, the white agrarian establishment was essentially unions, and the often divisive strategies of political parties, at liquidated at farm level both economically and politically. a time when bureaucratic sclerosis and various sources of The role of the petty-bourgeoisie and the nationalist political polarisation had accentuated the rural-urban divide. leadership, their use of the state, and their relationship with The ZCTU was eventually co-opted by foreign donors,6 the movement can best be understood in terms of the character together with a broad array of liberal, urban-based, middle- and function of the ‘radicalised state’. By 2000, the state class, donor-dependent NGOs, including the National underwent a peculiar transformation, through a suspension Constitutional Assembly (NCA). By the time the ZCTU of its bureaucratic coherence (its ‘bureaucratism’), with many founded the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, of its personnel mobilised in the interest of Fast Track Land the ‘pro-democracy’ forces had been completely overwhelmed Reform (Moyo and Yeros 2007a). The constitution of District by white-settler interests and foreign donors (see also Gwisai Land Committees overrode local bureaucratic structures,7 but 2002). Black farmers’ unions representing the peasantry had it also established fast-track procedures and new capacities also during the 1990s, distanced themselves from the land for the expropriation and redistribution of land, while also reform agenda (Skalnes 1995), as petty-bourgeois interests reforming laws and amending the constitution to underpin the prevailed among their ranks, focusing their advocacy on action and defend land occupiers against eviction. One may access to state subsidies and price-setting. Although they rightly fault the ruling party for streamlining the land did not expressly oppose the land reform, they were unable to movement and creating space for the petty-bourgeoisie, but it mobilise a constituency interested in repossessing land. On is not the case that it fulfilled a reactionary role, for it did not the other hand, the white-settler Commercial Farmers’ Union defend the status quo ante. Contrary formulations do not (CFU), in alliance with GAPWUZ (the farm workers’ trade adequately recognise the existence of real intra-class conflict, union), mobilised both its membership and international between petty-bourgeois and monopoly capital, black and public opinion against the land reform. white elites, and among black elites. The relationship of the land movement to the nationalist This suggests that Zimbabwe’s radicalisation entailed another leadership has posed conceptual difficulties since the ruling rare phenomenon of petty-bourgeois radicalism, shaped by party, having succumbed to structural adjustment, changed pressures from the land movement, as well as by blatant CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 32 external political interventions and sanctions. That the petty- The radicalised nationalist leadership could also be faulted bourgeoisie also became an agent of change presents very for allowing other petty-bourgeois tendencies, since aspiring difficult political questions, as previous African scholars have capitalists, lacking other means to bid for land, mobilised sub- noted (Fanon 1967; Shivji 1976). However, there is a problem national, ethno-regional claims to land ‘rights’ to exclude non- in attributing radicalisation solely to certain local- level war local competitors (Moyo 2011a). This tendency continues, veterans, against all the rest who vied for land, although the and could escalate as land bidding is re-focused on the land movement did coalesce varied streams of land occupiers. enlargement of existing landholdings at the expense of Instead of one ‘genuine’ category of radicalism, there are smallholders, and as bidding spreads to the redistribution of different radicalisms, each with its own class project. retained private and public agro-estates. Others who claim to stand aloof of the difficult political Such contradictions among the black petty-bourgeoisie questions have deployed a liberal-populist ‘people versus could undermine its radical nationalist economic posture state’ dichotomy, rendering the whole land and agrarian reform although these are essentially the ongoing tendencies of a process solely as a consequence of the agency of the landless class which remains profoundly insecure. Should the main against an indifferent state at best, or a ‘commandist’ and ‘enemy’ come to be seen as ‘internal’ (including ‘ethno- ‘clientelist’ state, at worst (see Scoones et al. 2010; Hanlon et regional’ or party political partisans), there could be regression al. 2013). Class analyses that reach similar conclusions do so to a neocolonial type of politics, malleable to foreign interests.8 only by downplaying the radicalisation of the petty- Yet, this is not a foregone conclusion "or a perennial and bourgeoisie and treating it as if it never really broke ranks with decontextualised ‘ethnic’ possibility in African politics" but monopoly capital. reflects shifting strategies of accumulation, subject to pressures from above and from below. The re-grouping of It would be more correct to say that the nationalist leadership popular forces is all the more necessary given the new in recent years had come to represent mainly un-accom- tendencies of class formation at the top and the changing modated bourgeois interests, which indeed have liberation strategies of monopoly finance capital. convictions of their own, but which are under the illusion that they can reform monopoly capitalism so as to sustain a Structural Reform, Renewed Developmentalism ‘patriotic bourgeoisie’ into the future. This situation explains and Economic the current scattered pressures for ‘indigenisation’ program- mes in strategic industries, as opposed to more collectivist Nationalism solutions (Moyo and Yeros 2011b, Moyo 2011b). It also partly The land reform radically restructured land ownership, but it explains the violence that accompanied land reform, mainly did not ‘oust capital’, which itself is now re-grouping (Moyo off the farms, as the nationalist leadership was unable to 2011b). Instead, a broadly based tri- modal agrarian structure commit ‘class suicide’ and submit itself to the evolving and has been instituted, consisting of peasant, small-scale capitalist expanding popular demands on the ground (Moyo and Yeros and large-scale estate farms (which are being indigenised). 2009, 2011b). The bifurcation of the Fast Track Land Reform, There was a deliberate promotion of competing trajectories of the strategy of indigenising agro-estates and other industries, accumulation, mustered through the mediation of contradictory and the recurrent violence are manifestations, not only of land struggles and class interests, and combined resistances class conflict, but also of intra-class conflict between petty- to the opposition to reform by capital and Western donors. bourgeois interests and monopoly capital. This outcome suggests another distinctive characteristic of A related weakness may be attributed to the war veteran the radicalisation process. movement which became ‘tactically sterile’, and paid dearly This agrarian structure is based on differential landownership for this when the state’s Murambatsvina project assaulted regimes (state-sanctioned usufruct permits, non-tradable urban settlements in 2005 (Sadomba 2013). An uninterrupted leases, and freehold or state property, respectively); different escalation of the revolutionary situation would have required forms of integration into markets; varied forms of labour that the land movement undergo organisational and relations and varied linkages to non-farm activities and assets. ideological innovation founded in proletarian mobilisation and This, in turn, gives rise to different types of producers vying wider strategic concerns. Masuko (2013) argues that the land for different forms of labour mobilisation and competing movement did go beyond the single-issue platform of land accumulation strategies (Moyo 2011b, 2011c). This has reclamation by promoting a plethora of associational forms unravelled the legacy of the settler-colonial ‘labour reserve’ that sprouted in the resettlement areas (see also Murisa 2013). structures, by amplifying the smallholder sector and While such associational forms are the kernel of progressive incorporating a significant ‘merchant’ path, while retaining politics in the countryside, including their issue-focus on elements (albeit downsized) of the ‘junker’ and ‘state’ paths service provision by the state (agricultural inputs, social (see Moyo and Yeros 2005a).9 This has also restructured farm infrastructure, markets, credit, and subsidies), they are not labour supplies and labour utilisation. articulated into a radical mass agrarian movement. This opportunity is dissipating, as the liberal ‘pro-democracy’ The diverse elements of this structure are not entirely unique movement, comprising the donor-funded MDC, NGOs, and to the continent, but their clear demarcation in state policy, settler farmer elements, seek to mobilise such associations in and the dynamics by which they have been established, do service of a new market integration agenda. make this case unique. Moreover, the reform brings Zimbabwe closer to the rest of Africa’s agrarian structures by breaking CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 33 up the large-scale farming established during the nineteenth- monopolised by white farmers (see also Chambati 2011). The century, and broadening the small-scale capitalist sector, which immediate manifestation of this has been a shortage of labour, had also been introduced by the colonial regime, while which has deprived especially the small-scale capitalist sector preserving some ‘strategic’ agro-industrial estates (Moyo of the prior abundant workforce willing to work for wages 2011b). below the cost of social reproduction. The fundamental question is whether Zimbabwe will be able That the labour reserve diminished and the bargaining power to sustain, via this tri-model structure, an introverted process of labour altered does not, of course, mean that the labour of accumulation ‘from below’, given the tendencies and reserve economy has been extinguished. The persistence of contradictions of this new agrarian structure, with regard to simple reproduction among smallholders and the the new type of labour reserve that has emerged, incipient reconstitution of the small- and large-scale capitalist sectors, land markets, the persistence of the core agricultural exports under the weight of Western sanctions, continue to re-create and the re-insertion of finance capital through markets, credit the structural conditions of super-exploitation, even among and contracts. Moreover, the attendant processes of class the new self-exploited peasantry. Super-exploitation is further formation and the contestations over accumulation and the abetted by residual labour-tenancy on some new farms, as policy regime, remain intrinsically fluid, given also the well as the exploitative intra-family and gender-based labour contradictions imposed by the extant sanctions regime. relations. Yet, the unravelling of racialised relations of personal dependence and the expansion of the smallholder sector has For instance, one of the immediate consequences of Fast altered the balance of power among the three modes of farming. Track is the re- emergence of informal land rental markets It is here that the new political struggle is now being fought. between the ‘better performers’ and the ‘weaker’ ones, often between A2 and A1 farmers, respectively (Moyo et al. 2009). State Interventionism, Indigenisation and New Both macroeconomic constraints and labour shortages, on Developmentalism both A1 and A2 farms, have contributed to this tendency. Land sharing is also common, although this often occurs Both small- and large-scale capitalist farmers have a structural among A1 farmers’ kinship networks, as well as between all interest in policy measures that will oblige small producers to resettled farmers and farm workers, gold-panniers, and work for wages below the cost of social reproduction. This ‘squatters’ who have yet to be settled formally (Moyo et al. interest would be reinforced should an export-oriented 2009). Such tendencies represent local class differentiation accumulation strategy predominate. But these two types of across all agro-ecological regions and heralds future conflicts farmers are not identical, given that small-scale capitalist over access to land and natural resources. farmers, many with significant resource vulnerabilities, may also be co-opted by the state into production for domestic Although land tenure is generally seen to be secure, boundary markets and industries. In fact, this objective has largely been and access disputes could intensify (Moyo 2013). One of the their principal orientation to date. At the same time, smallholder terrains of struggle that could intensify is the status of farmers will themselves undergo differentiation, thereby leasehold on A2 farms, which is being challenged by domestic adding to the labour pool. Yet, this may also be mitigated by and foreign elements which advocate the conversion of the inward-looking policy measures that both reinforce the current leasehold land rights into freehold tenures. In this conditions of smallholder production and induce the growth case, small-scale capitalist farmers would find allies in private of cooperativism and rural industries capable of re-organising banks, which typically justify their refusal to finance the labour process. resettlement farmers on the supposed absence of ‘collateral’. Another terrain of struggle is the land tenure status of the The political struggle between the three modes of farming and remaining farm workers, some of whom have been re- inserted the attendant disputes over labour remain imbalanced and will into labour-tenancy relations (Chambati 2013). Yet, state policy be determined by a number of factors, including the character still remains committed to both leasehold tenure and the of state interventions against monopoly capital. protection of farm workers against eviction from A2 lands. The dominant factor in shaping the accumulation trajectory Re-peasantisation and the break-up of the settler agrarian is, however the structural power of monopoly capital, which monopoly has diminished the labour reserve of the past and opposed the radicalisation process and undermined undermined the functioning of the colonial cheap-labour progressive agrarian change by imposing severe limits on system. By 1999, half of this labour-force consisted of non- Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. From the beginning of the permanent, casual labour, reproducing itself precariously Fast Track, financial isolation and a capital strike had led to a between the LSCF and the Communal Areas, on real farm severe shortage in the economy, leading the state towards an wages which had collapsed to 24 per cent of the Poverty interventionist economic strategy, initially without a Datum Line. Super-exploitation was facilitated by a racialised, comprehensive plan to defend against sanctions (Moyo and quasi-feudal labour-tenancy system, together with a Yeros 2007a). A plan emerged as the internal and external patriarchal system of customary authority, which continued contradictions escalated, although the key constraint was how to undermine the bargaining power of the semi- proletariat as to finance the plan. This interventionism under contemporary a whole (Moyo and Yeros 2005). neoliberalism is the fifth distinctive characteristic of the Zimbabwe model. Land reform has absorbed surplus labour into petty- commodity production for own consumption and the market, It entailed controls over prices, trade, capital, and agricultural and pried open access to natural resources and related land markets, the monopolisation of grain purchases by the Grain use values that previously were enclosed in the properties Marketing Board, and the setting of food production targets, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 34 as well as targeted subsidies to agriculture and industries, to food self-sufficiency and to substitute for imported petrol by bolster an erstwhile import substitution industrialisation. State- expanding the cultivation of sugarcane on agro-estates owned owned agro-estates, together with state interests in mining, by the state and public trusts to produce ethanol for domestic banking, and other firms led this strategy, which includes the transport, may have various local industrial spin-offs (Moyo production of local agro-fuels against a rising fuel-import bill. 2011b). Such investments include via joint ventures with An agricultural mechanisation policy sought to enhance foreign capital, from the East, West, and South, under the motorised draught power, although the bulk of this was ‘Look East Policy’ (LEP) inaugurated in 2004. allocated to small- and large-scale capitalist farmers to The class character of state power, the strategies of the black compensate for the labour shortages that emerged (Moyo bourgeoisie, and the re-grouping of social forces are the three 2011a; Moyo and Nyoni 2013). State subsidies in electricity, further factors that will co-determine the balance of forces, as fuel and transport facilities were also effected, albeit at low suggested by the escalation of the indigenisation strategy levels associated with the fiscal constraints. This plan beyond agriculture to secondary industries, banking, and reflected both the class bias of the state and its reaction to the mining. Generally, indigenisation is a multi-class strategy, generalised strike by private banks and, bilateral and whose class character has oscillated in accordance with the multilateral donors. correlation of forces as the policy regime shifted. Eventually, hyperinflation, political conflict and informalisation In the 1980s, it shifted from a popular land reform policy to one of economic activity compelled the state to attempt geared towards the creation of a black bourgeoisie via normalisation with international capital. It is through this affirmative action with respect to land and state commerce. process that the state ‘interrupted’ the momentum of the The former continued throughout the 1990s, under structural revolutionary situation, including the assault on urban land adjustment, without much success, until its radicalisation movements in 2005 to establish ‘order’ (Moyo and Yeros 2007a, during the Fast Track Land Reform Programme. Then, under 2009, 2011b). Indeed, the heterodox plan lacked the foresight the subsequent normalisation from 2005, the strategy shifted to defend against the ensuing capital strike, which could have back to a bourgeois strategy, geared towards creating majority been better resisted by a policy of immediate nationalisation shareholding for black capitalists. Yet, a further elaboration of of banks and strategic industries. Thus, the state became the policy from 2010 envisions joint ventures between state- susceptible to carrot-and-stick strategies by foreign capital, owned enterprises and foreign firms. This policy is leading to its refusal to fully default on debt. increasingly reflected in the mining sector (e.g. diamonds), Normalisation has led to cooptation back towards an which has enormous potential to fill foreign-exchange gaps. extroverted strategy through various mechanisms (Moyo Upon the discovery of massive diamond deposits, a struggle 2011a, 2011b). The land redistribution policy on agro-estates ensued, especially from 2007 onwards, for the control of the is essentially a comprador ‘indigenisation’ strategy, which industry, against both small miners who entered the fray, as enables black capitalists to become majority shareholders in well as corporate capital of South African and Western origin. agro-estates, thereby succumbing to the logic of plantation The strategy on diamonds, and the possibility of circum- agriculture and its associated financial circuit. The expansion venting sanctions, led to a confrontation with foreign capital of outgrower contract farming, linked to a similar external and small miners, and this entailed repression of the latter. In financial circuits, locks small-scale capitalists into the agro- the event, the West, ostensibly in solidarity with the repressed estates for the production of sugarcane for the European small miners, resolved to broaden its sanctions tactics by market (under the ACP-EU Lomé Convention). So do the invoking the ‘Kimberly Certification Process’, alleging these tobacco and cotton contracts tied to Chinese and Western were ‘conflict diamonds’. When Zimbabwe won Kimberly capital. certification, the United States unilaterally imposed sanctions Dependence on external finance, inputs, and markets has on the diamond mining firms in partnership with mining exercised overriding power in tilting, once again, the internal parastatals. balance between social classes, while Western sanctions Nonetheless, state policy on minerals seems to be stabilising against Zimbabwe, including those against the parastatals and is positioning the state to reap future profits, via joint spearheading the economic recovery, reinforce this. The ventures looking both East and West. The accommodation of adoption in 2008, at the peak of hyperinflation, of a neoliberal Chinese capital has been central to this strategy. Similarly, the policy on currency, ‘dollarisation’ capital, trade, and expansion of platinum production by Western multinationals agricultural markets may have been a tactical retreat, but it was compelled by the threat of losing concessions to the East. entrenches the cooptation. Meanwhile, high-ranking state personnel have positioned Nonetheless, counter-tendencies suggest that the policy of themselves in the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Develop- normalisation has not totally extinguished the dirigisme of the ment Corporation driving the joint ventures, which has state and the new black bourgeoisie, which is still acutely undermined the legitimacy and transparency of the strategy.10 vulnerable to a monopolistic world market, and remains in It is notable that the indigenisation policy has been elaborated, conflict with international capital. The popular classes, from beyond the re- distribution of majority shareholding and joint which the nationalist leadership must still claim legitimacy, are ventures, towards a higher degree of social access, in the even more vulnerable. The state has not abandoned the ISI wake of popular agitation. This transformation involves the policy, or its intention to mediate pro-actively in favour of imposition of conditions on foreign firms to undertake black capital and, secondarily the smallholder farmers. The investments in physical and social infrastructure, such as Zimbabwean state persists with its policy of building national roads, schools, and clinics, as well as the allocation of shares CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 35 to ‘community and employee trusts’. The strategy reflects a reform (Chambati 2013), is notable. Some of the farmer groups renewed attempt, in response to more general criticisms of are orchestrated by state extension agents and private class bias, to broaden the benefits of indigenisation, especially contract farming firms, while others are led by the war veteran of mining, to the rural areas. It also reflects the continued need groups. Yet others draw on kinship relations and existing former of political elites (combining both ZANU-PF and MDC leaders) farming associations in the Communal Areas (see Murisa 2012). to respond to the reaction by capital, and to meet popular De facto, the state had extended customary authority to demands for state support in light of forthcoming elections. resettlement areas, both as a cooptation tactic and a low-cost Overall, these policies reflect the persistence of a specifically dispute-resolution mechanism, but the new constitution of nationalist accumulation strategy promoted by black 2013 limits their authority to Communal Areas. The state also capitalists with connections to the state. For, despite having co-opted chiefs through their inclusion into the A2 farming sunk roots of their own in the means of production, they remain scheme and mechanisation, but it excluded chiefs from vulnerable to both monopolistic forces and the need to exercising real authority over A1 land permits and A2 leases. It maintain legitimacy vis-à-vis popular forces. Black capital has also maintained their subordination (in some power continues to seek to consolidate its position by recourse to a relations) to elected authorities in local government. pro-active state, against what it considers to be its main Meanwhile, their cooptation into a new class position, where obstacle: Western monopoly capital. this has occurred, raises new questions regarding the trajectory of this institution, notwithstanding the ethno- New Agrarian Movements: Rural Cooperativism regional structure of Fast Track having extended the kinship and Democratisation? basis of customary authority. It has nonetheless been The sustainability of the current outcomes, and the potentials observed that beneficiaries from non-contiguous areas have for further progressive reforms, will depend on the politics of not always embraced their new chiefs (Murisa 2012). the popular classes after land reform. While the larger farmers Rural cooperativism also holds the unique potential to have been gravitating towards production for export markets transform gender relations and customary authority, to defend (albeit still in minority numbers), the basic pillar of food land rights and progressive agrarian change, as such, sovereignty will remain the smallholder farmers, together with authority was the social and political pillar of historic super- a significant portion of small-scale capitalists, who, for exploitation, particularly of women. Fast Track Land Reform instance, dominate the rapid recovery of tobacco production. tripled the proportion of rural women holding land in their There has been a clear shift in the orientation of production own right, yet women remain greatly under-represented (with towards food grains and pulses, to which the new land below 20 per cent of all farm units). The land movement also beneficiaries have dedicated 78 per cent of their cropped land. opened political space for women, which was filled in mass And, while national maize yields per hectare have suffered numbers. Women however seldom held leadership positions severe setbacks under conditions of drought, expensive inputs in land committees and local farmer associations (see Murisa and sanctions, beneficiaries in wetter agro-ecological regions 2012). While new cooperativism is the most realistic vehicle have performed much better (Moyo 2011c). for withering away the retrogressive patriarchal aspects of But the economic potential remains enormous, considering customary authority, there are class contradictions here too. that land utilisation rates are already at 40 per cent « that is, Quite critically, facing various agrarian demands from such the land utilisation level of the extroverted LSCF sector prior organised groups and other influential actors, the state has to Fast Track. But notable in this regard is that, on average, remained interventionist since 2003. For instance, the state the A2 farmers with larger landholdings crop below 20 per has also been active in supporting farmers’ groups via cent of their land, while a few surpass the 50 per cent mark. In agricultural extension officers, contrary to suggestions that the absence of broad-based investments in infrastructure, new farmers have not received state support (e.g. Scoones et fertiliser, and machinery due to credits supply constraints, al. 2010; Cliffe et al. 2011) or that they have been re- tribalised fulfilment of the agricultural potential will be delayed. (Worby 2003). The various measures which show that the Furthermore, differentiation across class and regions will small producers have thrived because of rather than lack of deepen, with adverse consequences for national cohesion state support include: the protection of land occupiers, and the weak rural movements. The emerging struggles over despite allowing some evictions to occur; the expanded role production, land access, tenure, and labour, as well as over of marketing boards; trade protection; some subsidies to agro- the much-needed social services in general, require organised industry and farmers (credit, inputs and machinery) before social forces capable of tilting the balance towards and after dollarisation; the ban on GMOs; and so forth. smallholders and farm workers (Moyo 2011c). Overall, it is clear that intervention into this fluid field by a The most promising development is the emergence among 40 new social agent based on cooperative and democratic per cent of small producers of new local cooperative principles can further erode customary authority, empower movements to pool labour, savings, and infrastructure, procure women, integrate farm workers and smallholders into agro- seeds and fertilisers, channel extension services, bid for industrial production units, and expand the potential for the producer prices, and negotiate labour contracts (Murisa 2012). formation of alliances among cooperative producers Among the farm workers, there are group negotiations for nationwide. Such agency may fulfil the aspirations for popular access to land and improved conditions of work, although agrarian change which are necessary after Fast Track, but this their poor representation by the national agricultural labour should go much further than welfarist measure to create union (GAPWUZ), which has never been in favour of agrarian efficient worker-controlled cooperatives to sustain the CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 36 struggle against monopoly capitalism, and retain pressure on should not be merely to accumulate forces for change, but the reconfigured state. also to initiate a longer-term process of structural change and national resistance, of which the agrarian question is a These social dynamics may shape the future of rural and fundamental component. All societies in recent years that national politics, depending on the ability of rural have entered a process of radicalisation have discovered that cooperativism to deepen its scope and branch out to form their food dependence and their domestic disjuncture wider political alliances. The resurrection of mass rural politics between agriculture, industry, and energy are crucial sources requires building up the new producer associations into an of vulnerability. This potential weakness means that mass advanced, united, and autonomous cooperative movement of mobilisation must also take seriously the project of ‘re- rural workers, capable, not only of obtaining ad hoc services, peasantisation’ as an explicitly modern project, and as the but also of dislocating the new black bourgeoisie from its only alternative in conquering autonomous development in political pedestal (Moyo and Yeros 2007a). the South (Amin 2012; Patnaik 2012). Concluding Remarks: Lessons from Zimbabwe The particular Zimbabwe experience suggests that While the internal dynamics, including the class character of redistributive land reform remains necessary to redress the land reform, the indigenisation strategy and ongoing existing racial, social and spatial inequalities to advance social struggles will determine the ability of the state to socially inclusive agrarian societies and promote wider rural sustain an inward-looking accumulation process and its livelihoods, accommodating a diverse range of classes and legitimacy, the security context and the foreign policy have ethno-regional entities, in the context of an innovative national been crucial in creating the external conditions for sustaining development strategy. An African vision for agrarian change the radical reform. In this context, despite Zimbabwe’s relative cannot be modelled around Eurocentric experiences of geopolitical insignificance, the re-radicalisation of land reform industrial transformation, which pretend to have arisen from a has challenged outright the controlled character of the pacific evolution of economies of scale and a natural process transitions to majority rule in settler-colonial Africa. For this of integration into the global neoliberal capitalist world based reason, it has been characterised as an ‘unusual and upon ‘comparative advantage. This is neither a plausible nor extraordinary threat’ to the USA (President George Bush 2002), feasible alternative. In countries such as South Africa and and subjected to a host of sanctions and isolation. Namibia, what remains of the legacy of the Apartheid agrarian model is a deepening of class-race inequalities and the It is only the new SADC security framework which, despite all ongoing concentration of land ownership and capital, and its prevarications, is anchored in a mutual defence pact that social deprivation. has effectively prevented the militarisation of the Zimbabwe question (Moyo and Yeros 2011b). Zimbabwe’s Look East The challenges of broadly based agrarian transformation, in Policy is ‘complementary, rather than [serving as] an light of the uneven balance of forces require serious consi- alternative to engaging with the West’ (Patel and Chan deration, including more innovative state interventions that 2006:182) as it has neither turned its back on Western capital, seek to promote a progressive accumulation trajectory, entai- nor accepted investment from China and the rest of the East or ling new strategies of rural development. To prevent the South without conditions. The LEP was pursued as a method persistent super-exploitation of wage labour and small of circumventing Western sanctions, while pressuring the producers in the context of globalised agrarian markets, the West back into investing in Zimbabwe, on conditions current weaknesses of small producer and market coopera- consistent with its indigenisation and empowerment policy. tives will have to be addressed to countervail existing limited This outcome raises wider questions about the external state agricultural protection and support. This requires both conditions which enable or undermine radical reform, increased popular mobilisation and progressive reforms in the particularly the nature of relations with neighbouring states. state.

Furthermore, while Zimbabwe has particularities of its own, Notes the structural and social sources of radical change are firmly 1. The material in this speech was reworked from a chapter by Sam rooted in most societies of the Global South (see Moyo and Moyo and Paris Yeros (2013): The Zimbabwe Model: Yeros 2005a, 2011a). This is not to say that radical change Radicalisation, Reform and Resistance, In Moyo, Sam and W. depends on mere ‘will’, and that political resignation should Chambati (eds), The Land and Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe: be answered by naïve voluntarism. The correlation of forces Beyond White-Settler Capitalism, Dakar: CODESRIA (2013). in every situation should be assessed, with the intention of changing it, not preserving it. This also means that a clear 2. A merchant path consist of non-rural capital, including merchant understanding of the state apparatus and state power must be capital, petty bourgeois elements, bureaucrats, military personnel developed. A blanket anti-statist policy of ‘changing the world and professionals who gain access to land. They farm on a smaller without taking power’, which remains so hegemonic among scale than capitalist farms but are integrated into export markets social movements, ought to be replaced by a strategy and and global agro-industry. tactics which seek to alter state power and unravel the state 3. The junker path, formerly of landlords turned capitalists, has its apparatus in the interest of the oppressed; i.e. towards radical variants in the white settler societies of Southern Africa, and it agrarian reform. operates in tandem with transactional capital.

For mass mobilisations to endure the countervailing forces 4. Formally constituted and bureaucratised organs of political that will inevitably align against them, they must take representation, such as political parties, farmers’ unions, trade seriously the agrarian component of society. The objective CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 37

unions, and NGOs failed to mobilise a radical land movement (see Mandaza, I., 1985, ‘The State and Politics in the Post-White Settler Moyo 2001; Yeros 2002; Moyo and Yeros 2005b). Colonial Situation’, in Mandaza, I., ed., Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980"1986, Dakar: CODESRIA. 5. Some contemporary parallels include Bolivia and, to a lesser degree, Venezuela (see Moyo and Yeros 2011a). Masuko, L., 2013, ‘Nyabira-Mazowe War Veterans Association: A Microcosm of the National Land Occupation Movement’, in 6. By 1995, trade unions, led by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Moyo, S. and Chambati, W., eds, Land and Agrarian Reform Unions (ZCTU) had completely abandoned land reform as a Zimbabwe: Beyond White-Settler Capitalism. Dakar, CODESRIA, political project (Yeros 2002).The ZCTU had pried away from the pp. 123-156. control of the state in the late 1980s, and articulated a critique of structural adjustment in the early 1990s, but it gravitated towards a Matondi, P., 2012, Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform. London: Zed political project of ‘good governance’ and ‘regime change’, Books. promoted by foreign donors and international trade unions. Moyo, S., 1986, ‘The Land Question’, in Mandaza, I., ed., Zimbabwe: 7. Something that the ‘chaos’ theorists have seen as the ‘destruction The Political Economy of Transition, 1980-1986, Dakar: of the state’ (Hammar et al. 2003) CODESRIA.

8. The immediate manifestation of such a tendency would be the Moyo, S., 1995, The Land Question in Zimbabwe, Harare: SAPES escalation of factional politics both within the ruling party and Books. within the MDC (see Moyo and Yeros 2007b). Moyo, S., 2000, Land Reform under Structural Adjustment in 9. Class analysis of the new Zimbabwe must come to grips with the ten- Zimbabwe: Land Use Change in Mashonaland Provinces, dencies and contradictions of this tri-modal structure, and avoid Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute. theories of ‘rentier economy’ (Davies 2005) or ‘crony capitalism’ Moyo, S., 2001, ‘The Land Occupation Movement and Democratisation (Bond 2009), or notions of ‘passive revolution’, which are based in Zimbabwe: Contradictions of Neo-liberalism’, Millennium: on nebulous assessments of the new class relations (e.g. Raftopoulos Journal of International Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 311-330. 2010). Moyo, S., 2008, African Land Questions, Agrarian Transitions and the 10. For some ‘pro-democracy’ forces (e.g. Cross 2011), this critique State: Contradictions of Neoliberal Land Reforms, Dakar: has become opportunistic, calling for the nationalisation of black CODESRIA. capital but not Western capital! Moyo, S., 2010, ‘Rebuilding African Peasantries: Inalienability of Land References Rights and Collective Amin, S., 1972, ‘Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa: Food Sovereignty in Southern Africa’, Mimeo. Origins and Moyo, S., 2011a, ‘Three Decades of Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe’, Contemporary Forms’, Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 10, Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 493-531. No. 4, pp. 503"24. Amin, S., 2012, ‘Contemporary Imperialism Moyo, S., 2011b, ‘Land Concentration and Accumulation after Redis- and the Agrarian Question’, Agrarian South: Journal of Political tributive Reform in Post-Settler Zimbabwe’, Review of African Economy, Vol. 1, No. 1. Political Economy, Vol. 38, No. 128, pp. 257-276. Moyo, S., 2011c, Bond, P., 2009, ‘Mamdani on Zimbabwe Sets Back Civil Society’, ACAS ‘Changing Agrarian Relations after Redistributive Land Reform in Bulletin, Vol. 82 (March). (http://concernedafricascholars.org/ Zimbabwe’, Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 939-966. bulletin/82/bond). Moyo, S., 2013, ‘Land Reform and Redistribution in Zimbabwe since Cross, E., 2011, ‘Nationalise Zimbabwe’s Diamond Mines’, Africa 1980’, in Moyo, S., and Chambati, W., eds, Land and Agrarian Legal Brief, 8 October. (http://www.africalegalbrief.com/index.php/ Reform Zimbabwe: Beyond White-Settler Capitalism, Dakar, component/content/article/367- nationalise-zimbabwes-diamond- CODESRIA, pp. 29-78. mines-eddie-cross.html). Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2005a, ‘The Resurgence of Rural Movements Chambati, W., 2011, ‘Restructuring of Agrarian Labour Relations after under Neoliberalism’, in Moyo S. and Yeros, P., eds, Reclaiming the Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Peasant Studies, Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 1047"68. Chambati, W., 2013, ‘Changing agrarian Latin America, London and Cape Town: Zed Books and David labour relations after land reform in Zimbabwe’, in S. Moyo and W. Philip. Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2005b, ‘Land Occupations and Land Chambati, eds., Land and Agrarian Reform Zimbabwe: Beyond Reform in Zimbabwe: Towards the National Democratic White-Settler Capitalism, Dakar: CODESRIA, pp. 157-194. Revolution?’, in Moyo S. and Yeros, P. eds, Reclaiming the Land:

Davies, R., 2005, ‘Memories of Underdevelopment: A Personal The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Interpretation of Zimbabwe’s Decline’, in B. Raftopoulos and T. London and Cape Town: Zed Books and David Philip. Savage, eds., Zimbabwe: Injustice and Political Reconciliation, Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2007a, ‘The Radicalised State: Zimbabwe’s Cape Town and Harare: IJR and Weaver Press. Interrupted Revolution’, Review of African Political Economy, Vol. Fanon, F., 1967, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. C. Farrington, 111: pp. 103-121. London: Penguin Books. Hammar, A., Raftopoulos, B. and Jensen, Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2007b, ‘The Zimbabwe Question and the Two S., eds, 2003, Zimbabwe’s Unfinished Business: Rethinking Land, Lefts’, Historical Materialism, Vol. 15, No. 3: pp. 171-204. State and Nation in the Context of Crisis, Harare: Weaver Press. Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2009, ‘Zimbabwe Ten Years On: Results and Hanlon, J., Manjengwa, J. and Smart, T., ‘Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Prospects’, MRzine, 10 February. (http:// Land’, Auckland Park: Kumarian Press. mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2009/my100209.html). CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 38

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Patnaik, P., 2012, ‘The Peasant Question and Contemporary Capitalism: Some Reflections with Reference to India’, Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 1, No. 1. Raftopoulos, B., 2009, ‘The CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 39

CODESRIA 14th General Assembly

Rethinking CODESRIA’s Future: Priorities to Consider

Fatima Harrak Former President CODESRIA

The outgoing President of CODESRIA’s Executive Committee, Fatima Harrak, has identified five areas of concern the Council must focus on as it repositions itself for the challenges of the twenty-first century. In her report at the 14th General Assembly of CODESRIA held in Dakar, June 2015, she identified some of the Council’s challenges and proferred various recommendations to overcome these challenges. Excerpts of her speech:

t has been a great privilege, but also Teaming up with the Executive Secretary, The political and military outlook is also an immense challenge, for me and for Ebrima Sall, well known to the constitue- bleak, even hopeless: NATO, led by the Ithe outgoing Executive Committee I ncy for his scrupulousness and his US and the EU are engaged in declared worked with, to serve CODESRIA during identification with CODESRIA, has also imperial wars, directly or through proxies, the last three years and half. been a motivating experience. and a number of other so-called civiliza- tional clashes around the world, including Please find here, dear Ebrima, the expre- • Let me proudly present to you my in Africa (North Africa, the Sahara and ssion of our gratitude to you and your companions in this journey: Sahel). aids and staff for your kind support and • Helmi Sharawy, from Egypt: the most always courteous collaboration. dynamic and the youngest at heart Situation in Africa On behalf of the Executive Committee I • Mwallimu F.E.M.K. Senkoro, from These developments have all left their would like now to highlight some of the Tanzania: the sage imprint on Africa, but there is also a achievements of this Executive Committee specifically African context. • Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo, from since its election in December 2011, the Cameroun: the most reflective details of which will be elaborated by the • In essence, Africa today is at the • Dzodzi Tsikata, from Ghana: the Executive Secretary in his report to this crossroads. It is saddled by a myriad barrister Assembly. of political, social and economic challenges which have left many • Kenneth Inyani Simala, from Kenya: The 2012-2015 Framework countries politically unstable. the passionate Mwallimu Yet, the paradox of a continent richly Special, Focus 14th AG • Jessie Kabwila-Kapasula, from endowed with natural resources and still Malawi: the political animal Global environment struggling with grinding poverty is Claudio Alves-Furtado, from Cap Vert, The global environment during the illustrative of the African economic Etanislas Ngodi, from Congo Brazaville second decade of the twenty-first century structural challenges. These political and & Puleng Lenka Bula, from South Africa is characterized by an exacerbation of the economic conditions have triggered a – respectively sociologist, Political financial crisis. The debate prompted by wave of forced migration sometimes with scientist and Dean of Students specialist Thomas Picketty’s book is symptomatic tragic results. of Ethics and leadership. This trio is the of the ambient anxiety about the future of In North Africa a wave of popular protests youngest, and proved to be the most Capitalism as a result of the increasing promised a new dawn of democratic revo- resourceful and innovative element of this scarcity of resources, the greater debt, and lutions, but the Spring did not naturally Executive Committee. the intensifying popular resistance to progress to a bright summer of demo- Working with this group of brilliant and sustaining the burden of the politics of cracy; it has even regressed, in some cases, engaged pan-African scholars who all austerity (the Greek case is indicative). and the progress towards the institution have CODESRIA at heart – and who in At the same time as the US and the and/or consolidation of democratic gover- their majority (7/10) served their first term European Union (the previous economic nance disrupted and the return to military, of office in a CODESRIA governing organ engines of global expansion) have despotic and repressive rule legitimated by – was both pleasurable and gratifying. exhausted their potentialities and are in the so-called "war on terrorism". The challenges we had to face together open decline, the new centres of growth, The dismantlement of the State in Libya as a unit during our mandate brought us the BRICS, which provided a new impetus and the total destruction of its economy, close to each other and it was always in a for world growth during the first decade, society and political order has offered yet climate of entente, even of complicity, that are also showing signs of de-acceleration. another African base, after Somalia – and we performed our duties. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 40 an inexhaustible source of funding – for • African governments continue to Notwithstanding all these incon- the combatants of the "war of civili- prioritize the teaching and research veniences, however, important achieve- zations", a war now proclaimed in North, in STEM (Science Technology, ments have been made by this Executive Central and West Africa. Engineering and Mathematics (with Committee. few exceptions) for which they The Ebola crisis in West Africa, which we provide infrastructure and funding Achievements since the 13th GA have lived with directly in CODESRIA, (national and endowment funds). Institutional development came to demystify and deflate the Afro- • Social sciences in Africa continue, The general disenchantment induced by euphoria and the "Africa Rising" narra- therefore, to operate under condi- the predicaments of the 13th General tive. It displayed to the world the dramatic tions that are seriously under- and persisting damages inflicted on equipped and under-resourced, Assembly made that the Executive African states and societies by Structural both in African universities and in Committee elected in Rabat had among Adjustment Policies, and which the Mil- independent research institutions its major tasks, if not its main task, the lennium Development Goals did not and NGOs. This means that African revision of the governance mechanisms succeed in remedying social scientists and social science of CODESRIA. What was required of us research institutions are still in a was the initiation of an internal evaluation Now that the MDGs have come to an end, situation of dependence vis-à-vis of the root causes of the malaise we the time has come for Africa to pause for international donors and funding witnessed in Rabat, an evaluation that an evaluation of this experience before agencies. was to lead to the renewal and revitali- embarking on a "post 2015 Sustainable • And today these resources are no zation of the membership, governance Development Goals" agenda that the UN longer reliable, nor are they always and management of CODESRIA and the and other international development adapted to the local research re-actualization of its intellectual agenda. agencies are currently working on, on its priorities. behalf! Kicking off this process to a start was not Obviously, these developments had easy; that is why we consider that coming State of African higher education direct bearing on the functioning, to this General Assembly with an internal scientific production as well as on the and social science research review is a major achievement of this working conditions at CODESRIA. Executive Committee. In the field of African higher education and social science research, the second The cutback and delay of disbursement It is an Internal Review in three parts: of funds from some of our key donors did decade of the twenty-first century has (1)An Internal Review on Membership constitute one of the major challenges we been marked by: and Governance, chaired by Pro- faced during our mandate. Both the fessor Thandika Makdawire with the • Growing awareness by African sta- financial crisis, and the fact that some of participation of Dr. Pierre Sané and keholders, including some political our partners were funding newly created Professor Aki Sawyer. This review leaders, of the value of higher educa- social science research institutions in was finalized in February 2015 and tion in achieving their visions of Africa, explains the difficult situation in the report, recommendations and prosperity, peace and integration… which CODESRIA found itself during the proposed Charter amendments Whence the tremen-dous growth in last three years. This brought home the circulated to CODESRIA member- the higher education and research obligation to confront the challenge of ship in early March, for examination sphere in Africa and the phenomenal diversification of our funding sources. and discussion in this GA; increase in the number of public and (2)An Internal Review on Management, private universities, research centers The other difficulty we faced during our chaired by Prof. Zenebework Tadese and institutes, think tanks and term was the Ebola crisis which made it with the participation of Profs research NGOs, and the multiplication obligatory for CODESRIA to suspend many of its activities. This situation also Akwasi Aido and Temba Masilela, of initiatives geared towards encoura- launched in April 2015. A preliminary brought home the urgent need to develop ging higher education, research and report of this review will be the capacities of CODESRIA, both innovation – even if the share of So- presented to the GA for information; cial Sciences in this effort is technical and human, for assimilating and insignificant. integrating ICTs in its functioning. (3)And a third internal review concer- ning CODESRIA’s intellectual • the creation of more African funding The convulsions in North and Sahelo- agenda, is chaired jointly by Profs. institutions, public and private, and Saharan Africa caused the halting of some Elisio Macamo and Mustapha Raufu the implication of some BRICS of our activities but were also the source with the participation of Profs. countries in funding research and of lively intellectual debates and an Pamela Mbabezi and Dickson Eyoh. higher education projects in Africa. inspiration for a substantial number of This review was launched in March Nonetheless, research proposals and activities at 2015 and a preliminary report of the CODESRIA. committee will also be presented to • Higher Education in Africa con- this GA for information. Another difficulty faced during this tinues to be fragmented, increasingly The work undertaken – or underway – by privatized and internationalized, and period was the fact that the Secretariat had to work with a reduced workforce as these three review teams and the spirited it continues to suffer from brain drain and fertile debate we will have around and the "expert/consultancy syn- the result of the voluntary and involuntary parting of a number of senior staff. their documents, will assuredly unfold drome" unto a new vision and new directions for CODESRIA. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 41

Another important contribution of this EC CODESRIA has been involved in many During our term, two of this EC’s meetings to the institutional development of other exciting intellectual activities which were held outside of Dakar, one in Cap CODESRIA is the elaboration and adop- the Executive Secretary will expound in Vert and one in Mombassa, and two tion of a Code of Ethics for the members his report. outreach missions were organized for EC of the Executive Committee. This was our members to Tunisia and Congo; the way of contributing to streng-thening Challenges lessons learned from these limited accountability, guarding against conflict Communication experiences pledge in favor of more of interest and abuse of power and esta- CODESRIA continues to suffer from a mobility for CODESRIA activities and blishing a moral protocol for this gover- communication deficit (or a "commu- more collaboration with African research ning organ of CODESRIA. This document nication challenge" as a colleague put it), and higher education institutions. may serve as a model for the development in spite of a cognizance of the difficulty I cannot end this section without of a more general code which will bind all and an expressed will to tackle it. underlying the necessity of improving officeholders at CODESRIA. We still have difficulties disseminating our communication on some other levels: Together with the Secretariat, this EC has research and projecting CODESRIA • between the EC and the CODESRIA also been able to put membership issues within and outside the continent. on a stronger footing, by urging for the staff, and Efforts have been made by the secretariat compilation of the list of members, adop- • between the EC and our funders ting a membership policy and almost com- in the form of the development of the pleting the modalities of payment of website and the social media associated • between the EC and the ES membership dues through electronic with it. Some of CODESRIA’s publi- The two meetings that this EC had with cations and journals have also been put means. our Nordic donors and its encounter with online, partnerships have been made with the CODESRIA local staff represent a This EC has also overseen the preparation commercial publishers and distributors, good step in this direction. These and adoption of several policy papers the the process of renewal of tenure for reunions have been very informative and aim of which was the rationalization of periodicals’ editors has been started … CODESRIA's work and the reinforcement have given us greater awareness of the of responsibility. However, this deficit of communication problems of the local employees and a persists and exists on more than one level; better understanding of the complexities Intellectual Agenda it exists within the institution and of the funding milieu. between CODESRIA and its constituency. The mandate of this EC coincided with Communication between the EC and the the launching of a new strategic plan to In spite of the progress made on member- ES is a governance and managerial matter cover the period 2011-2016. Work started ship matters, including the long-sought- which needs to be approached through on this plan since 2009 but could only be after list of members and the Membership organizational reform. finalized in 2012, with the contribution of Review, a lot remains to be done in order the EC and the SC. to strengthen relations with both Sustainability individual and institutional members, Our mandate also coincided with the Like the communication syndrome, the reach out to the young generation of issues of diversification of funding celebration of CODESRIA’s 40th anni- scholars, especially from the among the versary. Various activities of CODESRIA sources and long term financial sustai- marginalized communities – such as the nability have been worrying CODESRIA during 2013 were held under the umbrella Arabophone, the islanders and resear- – as well as its key funders – for some of the anniversary celebration but the chers in zones of conflict or instability. grand celebration was, for logistical time now. It is now a pressing question. The monthly Newsletter is a welcome reasons, held in June 2014 under the We have yet to imagine and lay down a initiative but it is not regular and it needs theme of "Forty Years of Research and strategy, a fundraising campaign for long an editorial team that will invigorate and Knowledge Production for Africa" term, independent and sustainable fun- energize it; more than that, it does not ding to support CODESRIA’s adminis- Apart from these two big events this dispense from direct contact, real or trative costs and the execution of its committee has had to regularly oversee virtual, whenever that is feasible. That is scientific programmes. the completion of various activities of the why we have continuously urged for: research, training and publication pro- • a structured Outreach Program for We have been speaking of the establi- grammes, with a particular concern for the EC members, shment of an Endowment Fund for a long rationalization and refocusing of our time but moving very slowly in that efforts and our resources (decentralizing, • holding of more meetings and direction. At the same time, numerous privileging research over micro-metho- activities of CODESRIA outside of plans and suggestions for mobilizing dological training, optimizing use of ICT, Dakar, thus allowing a decongestion resources from the continent (Gulf, ADB, delegating to African universities...) and decentralization of our pro- Angola…) have been proposed, but not grammes and stimulating the followed up. More needs to be done in this direction exchanges between the leadership and we are counting on the Internal and management of CODESRIA on We hope that the efforts of this and other Review on Management to initiate the one hand and the researchers, Executive Committees to ensure that the change where routine and entrenched universities and research institu- Endowment Fund is established will be ways of doing things have been difficult tions in various parts of the continued and sustained by the incoming to extricate. continent , on the other. Executive Committee. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 42

We not only need to be more resourceful outreach to young and emerging intellec- geared towards African needs as formu- and more aggressive in our pursuit of the tuals, marginalized regions and scholarly lated by the continent’s intellectuals. diversification of our funding but we also communities; concretization of relations It is the enthusiastic engagement of these need to address the emergent and sprea- with insti-tutional members; co-funding intellectuals, and the commitment of the ding phenomenon of small grants and of a number of activities…); African human and social science small funders. Fourth concern: the responsible use of community of scholars at large, manifes- ICTs. Driven by CODESRIA’s goals and ted in the presence of so many of you Recommendations needs, serious thinking must be given to here today (and the so many others who May I close this statement by recom- integrating this technology for the could not come), that give meaning and mending to the attention of this venerable efficient management of both the value to the work of CODESRIA. Thank assembly the major concerns of this EC administrative and scientific pursuits of you, dear members of CODESRIA, for your as it ends its mission: the Council; and loyalty and unfailing engagement. First concern: the completion and Fifth concern: the intellectual agenda of May I in the name of all of you, and in the implementation of the three reviews and CODESRIA. While this agenda should be name of the outgoing EC, express our the concretization the vision for a globally engaged, we must be attentive appreciation to our funders and partners, CODESRIA for the twenty-first century; that it remains locally relevant and some of whom have been backing us and Second concern: the diversification, focused around themes of priority not valuing our work from the very beginning; sustainability and independence of our only to our constituency but to our we are grateful for their trust and their funding and the definitive resolution of continent. And while cultivating colla- sponsorship. boration between scholars of Africa and the question of the Endowment Fund; Together we can fashion a dynamic and those of the global south and between resourceful CODESRIA for the twenty- Third concern: the configuration of a de- African researchers and their peers in the first century! centralization scheme for our programmes rest of the world, we must see to it that and activities as one of the means of fa- the knowledge produced by this Council Thank you for your kind attention. cing up to many challenges: communica- continues to be context specific and tion of research and with scholars;

Summary Report of CODESRIA 14th General Assembly: Creating African Futures in an Era of Global Transformations

The 14th General Assembly of CODESRIA forward. This was a purely internal took place at the King Fahd Palace Hotel, exercise that the Council had decided to Dakar, 8-12 June 2015. The theme of the Ibrahim Oanda undertake in order to continue positioning General Assembly and upon which most CODESRIA itself as Africa’s premier Social Science paper presenations and discussions were Dakar research institution. A new development based was ‘Creating African Futures in in the organization of the activities of the an era of Global Transfromations’. The General Assembly was the separation of theme was chosen due to the felt need to of the establishment of CODESRIA. The the scientific and adminstrative activities have the General Assembly, which is one 40th anniversary was a moment of reunion of the assembly following the of the largest gatherings of Social and reflection on CODESRIA’s leadership recommendations of the management Scientists in Africa, engage in debates and role in research and knowledge review committee. reflections on a framework that would production in the social sciences in Africa. With the above background, it was inform the construction of the African The 14th GA also coincided with the end considered imperative for the African future, within the context of globalization of the 2012-2015 programme cycle of the Social Science community to reflect on that has threatened to destroy the Council’s research engagements, and how to ‘reinvent a future for themselves progress in social development in recent reflections on the next cycle and strategic and redefine the social, cultural, moral, times. The Assembly had initially been plan. This was therefore an opportunity ethical and institutional foundations of scheduled for December 2014, but had to for the Executive Committee of the Council the citizenship and membership in the be rescheduled due to the outbreak of the and the Secretariat to report to the local, national and continental levels, in a Ebola virus disease which affected most community and funding partners on what free, united, democratic and prosperous countries in the West African region. had been achieved and what the future Africa, in peace with itself and the world’. focus of the Council would be. Thirdly, The 14th General Assembly took place in Thus, the choice of the General Assembly the Assembly was an opportunity for the the context of a number of developments theme. community to discuss reports on the that need to be highlighted. First the adminstrative and intellectual reforms that The conference was organized into 6 meeting took place a few months after the the Council needed to undertake moving plenary sessions (conference presen- commemoration of the 40th anniversary CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 43

tations), 6 roundtables, 24 parallel • Towards Knowledge-driven Socie- CODESRIA that is more committed, more sessions and one event for the launch of ties in Africa: Higher Education, visible, with necessary reforms in depth. new CODESRIA journals. The first Research, and the Transformation of He invited the community to further plenary session was devoted to three African Economies and Societies contribute to the development of Africa. events. These were the opening speech The ES took time to thank the researchers • African Popular Culture and the Ima- of the CODESRIA Executive Secretary, who had come from all backgrounds, the gination of Alternative Futures Ebrima Sall, the report of the president of Senegalese government for supporting CODESRIA’s Executive Committee, Fatima • Decoloniality and African Futures in the council over the years, and donors Harrak, and the keynote address (Cheikh the Twenty-first Century who have always trusted CODESRIA and Anta Diop Lectrure), which was delivered • Beyond MDGs: Pathways to the committed funds to the Council’s by Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of Sustainably Developed Community activities. UNECA on the theme’ Africa’s impera- tives to determine its own future’. • Designing and Building Resilient Speech by the President of and Socially Inclusive Societies CODESRIA, Dr Fatima Harrack The roundtables focused on the following • Social Reconstruction in Post- issues: The President welcomed participants to neoliberal Society the GA. Like the ES, she echoed the • Inventing our future • Health, Arts and Popular Cultures: Council’s gratitude to the Senegalese • Building healthy societies: epidemic How Cultural Industries Re-invent government for continued hospitality and control and prevention the "Suffering "? in Africa support, and the honour that the government had accorded the GA by • Regional Integration and Pathways • Understanding and Transcending having the Prime Minister preside over to African Futures Fundamentalisms the opening ceremony. The president • South- South: Reconfiguring South- • Strengthening the Social and Human also extended gratitude to the different South Relations for Global Sciences in Africa: Intellectual and personalities from the universities, the Transformation Institutional Challenges diplomatic corps in Senegal and organizations of civil society for their • Industrialization, Trade and • African Popular Culture and the commitment and support. Structural Transformation Imagination of Alternative Futures • The Africa we want • Climate Change and its Implications Keynote Speech by Carlos Lopes, for African Futures: Innovative Ap- The presentations at the parallel sessions Executive Secretary of the Economic proaches to Agricultural Develop- Commission for Africa (ECA) also covered a broad range of themes, ment and Industrialization including the following: Carlos Lopes started his speech by con- • Progress of the World’s Women gratulating Codesria for its 42 years of • The African Diaspora in the 2015-2016: Transforming Economies, existence. Lopez noted that CODESRIA Recreation of Africa’s Futures Realizing Rights has a critical role to play in shaping Afri- • Regional Integration and Pathways • Supporting Forest Livelihoods ca’s transformation. He noted the existing to African Futures through Local Representation partnerships between CODESRIA and ECA and expressed the need to expand • Toward more Democratic Futures: • Reinvesting History in Literature, the depth of such cooperation for the Making Governance Work for all Movies and Media organizations to make a shared contri- Africans • History in the Construction of bution to Africa’s development. • Neo-liberalism and the Financia- African Futures: Challenges and lization of Natural Resources in Prospects Speech by Mohammed Abdallah Africa Boun Dionne, Prime Minister of the Opening Speeches • International Criminal Justice, Government of Senegal, representing Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and The Speech of the Executive the President Sovereignty in the Africa of the Secretary of CODESRIA, Dr Ebrima The last speech was that of the Prime Future Sall Minister (PM) of Senegal, on behalf of • Fashioning African Futures: Dr Sall began his address by inviting the the President of Senegal. The Prime Disciplinary, Interdisciplinary and members to observe a minute of silence Minister paid tribute to former Presidents Gendered Perspectives in tribute to fellow members of the of CODESRIA and the founders, who community who had died in the course nurtured the idea to create such a relevant • Land Grabs, Property Rights and organization. He also congratulated Citizenship of the year; Prof Amady Aly Dieng of Senegal, Dr. Ndeye Sokhna Gueye of those who have contributed, since the • From Impressive Growth to Inclu- Senegal, Dr Yves Chouala of Cameroon creation of CODESRIA, to its historic siveness: Large-scale Deals and and Dr Roselyne Achieng of Kenya. He mission of knowledge production, Households’ Livelihood in SSA then took time to share with members his networking, training and publication. He • Planning Development: Alternative desire and ambition to create conditions extolled the role of CODESRIA in helping to confront the many challenges of Economic Models for Africa’s for a more promising future for the Futures Council. He reitarated the need to have a Africa. The PM made reference to the CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 44

Senegalese government’s strategy for an crisis and the reduced staff numbers at and focus on the continent and emerging Senegal, known as the "Plan the secretariat despite the expansion of constituencies, 5) production of Senegal Emergent" (PSE). The strategy, programme activities. With regard to the knowledge that would be continent and according to him, aims to increase the state of higher education in Africa, the context specific, and 6) fostering productivity of Senegal’s economy in the president noted that the sector continued collaboration among researchers in Africa. public and private sectors. He noted that to be fragmented, privatized, interna- In his report the ES, Ebrima Sall, noted there is a perfect connection between the tionalized and therefore deepening the that despite the challenges outlined by PSE and the theme of the 14th General crisis of brain drain, and continuously the president, the state of the Council Assembly which is: "Creating Africa's creating an expectation within the com- remained strong and the balance sheet Futures in an era of Global munity that CODESRIA needed to step in positive. He highlighted the level of Transformation". The PM called for the to alleviate shortages in capacity. Where engagement, involvement and inputs cooperation of Senegal towards realizing governments had shown any interest, the from the community during workshops, Senegal’s development agenda. He also focus was on the STEM disciplines while institutes and conferences organized by reiterated the commitment of the ignoring the SSH. Despite the challenges, CODESRIA. He noted some of the Senegalese government to continue to the president highlighted the achie- accomplishments by the Council in the support CODESRIA. One expression of vements that had been recorded in the last 42 months, including; 1) The external this continued support, according to the tenure of the EC. These included putting evaluation of CODESRIA commissioned PM, is the recent the provision of a piece the membership of the Council on a strong by the donors which came out with a of land in Djamiadjo for the construction footing; overseeing preparation and positive evaluation of the Council’s of CODESRIA’s headquarters. IOn this adoption of policy documents such as the activities and focus, 2) Streamlining of the note, the PM, on behalf of the President gender policy; overseeing the develo- activities of the Council which include of the Republic of Senegal, formally pment of the new strategic plan, 2013- organization of the research agenda declared open the 14th General Assembly. 2016; and completion of various research around themes and a concentration of and publi-cation programs. She added research training activities to renew the 1st Working Session of the that three internal reviews were accom- community through training of young Scientific Conference plished in the areas of membership and scholars, 3) The launch of new governance, intellectual agenda and programmes, journals, networks and Chair: Dzodzi Tsikata (Vice-president management. These reviews were initiated publications, and 4) an attempt to enter of CODESRIA) for the purpose of moving CODESRIA in areas which CODESRIA was not in This session was devoted to presentation a new direction and vision. The Executive previously like justice. Other lines of and discussion of CODESRIA Review committee also put in place a code of interventions from the office of the Reports. Three reports were presented ethics to strengthen accountability. and discussed during this session. These Executive Secretary focused on, 1) were: The need for better communication and training trainers on leadership and cyber- utilization of ICTs was echoed in her security issues, 2) supporting doctoral a) Report of the President of CODESRIA report. Improved communication need to research activities, 3) generating literature by the President, Fatima Harrack happen between the EC and CODESRIA in areas needed for the continent by b) Report of the Executive Secretary of staff, between the executive committee African universities, 4) ensuring free CODESRIA by the ES, Ebrima Sall. and funders as well as between the electronic open access of material instead c) Presentation and discussion of the executive committee and the executive of printed versions only, 5) the Reports of CODESRIA internal secretary. In terms of sustainability, the establishment of a monthly e-bulletin, 6) review committees issue of diversification of funding and a strong partnership with the global south long-term financial stability in order to by putting resources together and getting Presenting her report, the President of support administrative costs and access to a larger pool of material, 7) and CODESRIA, Fatima Harrack, highlighted execution of its activities has been of a systematic effort put in place to make the difficult environment within which the concern to CODESRIA and its funders. sure practices are codified. In terms of the EC had worked to drive the work of the To tackle this financial issue, efforts were endowment fund, Dr. Sall highlighted the Council. According to her, global trends started towards the establishment of an difficulty of establishing one due to such as concerns about the future of endowment fund for CODESRIA. Fatima expensive cost, time and challenge with capitalism, expression of discontent as Harrak finished her report with some setting up an online system like paypal seen in popular uprisings especially in the recommendations from the executive for donations. Regarding the staffing Arab world, the emergence of proxy wars committee, which include: 1) the issues, Dr. Sall advocated for a rotation at as seen in the entry of the USA and NATO completion and implementation of the the level of senior staff so that into North Africa, the Ebola crisis in West three internal reviews, 2) diversification CODESRIA does not lose its institutional Africa and the general concern with the and sustainability of funding through the memory. The ES also mentioned state of higher education in Africa; had establishment of an endowment fund, 3) CODESRIA’s outreach initia-tive by being all presented both intellectual and decentralization of CODESRIA’s program- a co-organizer of a major summit on higher operational challenges to the work of mes and activities as a means of tackling education this past March in Senegal. In CODESRIA. This had been mirrored in the challenges linked to communication and September 2015, CODESRIA will partner delayed disbursement of funds from research, and outreach to young scholars, with the Inter-national Social Science donors; the rescheduling of various 4) ensuring that the intellectual agenda Council and the Human Sciences CODESRIA activities due to the Ebola of CODESRIA remains locally relevant Research Council to host the World Social CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 45

Science Forum in Durban, South Africa. of CODESRIA, Dzodzi Tsikata, went management of the publication CODESRIA will also continue to reach out through each of the 5 clusters of process needed improvement. to the African Union and regional amendments to the charter and moved a organizations in an effort to bring resolution for the adoption of each of Report of the Management research and policy together. them. Professor Sam Moyo seconded it. Committee The floor was opened for discussion by The members of this committee were Various Interventions were made from the the chair. The amendments were Zenebeworke Tadesse, Akwasi Aidoo, floor in response to the reports of the pre- eventually passed after a unanimous vote Pablo Gentili and Temba Masilela. sident and ES. With regard to the esta- in support of each of them. Presenting the report on behalf of the blishment of the endowment fund, some committee, Tadesse noted that the focus concerns were raised regarding the idea Reports of the Review of the committee was to look at the of sourcing for endowments from outsi- Committees status, strengths and challenges that the de while keeping the integrity of CO- Council faced in terms of its management. DESRIA’s mission. With regard to After the adoption of the Charter The leading question was to explore the membership, a suggestion was made to amendments that largely covered the extent to which CODESRIA was adjusting strengthen regional sub-groups in order report of the Membership and itself to global and African challenges. to connect with young scholars, as young Governance Committee, the participants The committee, after an analysis of the scholars still considered CODESRIA as were taken through the reports of the status and strengths of the Council an elitist organization meant for esta- Intellectual Agenda and the Management recommended the following: blished scholars. With regard to the en- Review Committees. dowment fund, Professor Adam Habib • The need for CODESRIA to diversify Report of the Intellectual Agenda suggested that CODESRIA should nego- its sources of core funding Committee tiate with institutions in Africa that alrea- • The need to have dedicated staff at dy had the PayPal facility and in fact The members of the committee were Elisio the secretariat to look into mem- offered that of the University of Witwa- Macamo; Abdul Raufu; Pamela Mbabazi bership and resource mobilization tersrand, where he is the Vice Chancellor. and Dickson Eyoh. Presenting the report and that priority is given to creating on behalf of the other members, Dickson C) Second Session: Presentation and a special endowment building sub- Eyoh noted that the committee looked at committee. discussion of the reports of the the state of research undertaken by the CODESRIA internal Review com- • Convince donors to have a joint mittees (management, intellectual Council, what had been achieved and the reporting template as staff spent so agenda review and membership and best way of moving forward. The much time to respond to different governance) committee based its report on a review of reporting templates from different documents and feedback from a donors. Chair: Fatima Harrak questionnaire that it had circulated within • Greater utilization of the scientific The chair gave an overview of the review the community. The committee noted the committee in implementing process and review documents, pointing following: CODESRIA programmes out that the review documents had been • Some internal reforms were required • That CODESRIA has continued to circulated within the community. The task within the secretariat starting with a pursue its research agenda through was therefore first, to discuss and adopt human resource audit. various vehicles and that the the charter amendments especially with research themes covered a wide • A rational decentralization of regard to membership and elections. She range of issues. CODESRIA’s activities was needed. noted that the EC appreciated the report • That the quality of research by the • Increase membership fees and on membership, which it valued and ensure it is regularly paid. considered important in guiding charter Council remained good but uneven. amendments. The EC however indicated • In terms of the research portfolio, the Reports from the Round-Tables that the issue of votes and representation committee noted that there had been Round Table: "Inventing Our Future" required further reflection. There was also a rapid growth in the size of the relative disagreement with the review research portfolio to the extent it Chairperson : Mahmood Mamdani would appear the secretariat had team’s narrow view of the social sciences Presenters : difficulties in managing all of them. and the approach to transdisciplinarity. • Adam Habib, • There appeared to be lack of clarity The amendments largely dealt with • Adebayo Olukoshi, membership and the rights of members as between basic and policy research • Y ang Guang regards participation in the General and how to effectively interface the • Benjamin Soares Assembly and scientific conference. two. Presentation by Adam Habib • Training is linked to research Discussion and adoption of projects and thematic institutes, and The presentation began by underlining charter amendment proposals in the overall the quality had been the imperativeness and urgency of Africa The discussion on the adoption of charter good though there was room for to play a vanguard role in its develop- amendments was chaired by Issa Shivji, further improvement. ment. This would have to be informed by Former Mwalimu J. Nyerere Chair in Pan • In terms of publications, there was a Africa’s original ideas. It would require African Studies, University of Dar Es backlog due to too many titles that creating incentives and capacities for the Salaam in Tanzania .The Vice-President CODESRIA was managing and the political class to include Africa’s future. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 46

While it was possible to imagine the futu- a foothold in Africa. Others included conditions. He opined that the Chinese re, the problem was how to create the ne- proposing a continental vision for Africa, model/experience was of comparative cessary conditions to accomplish it. responding to foreign visions about value for African elites and concluded that Africa was operating in a hostile world Africa and felt power of the many futures not democratic development but a that was dominated by alternative views suggested about Africa. He stressed the dictatorial one could do for Africa the way and ideas of more powerful actors who need for understanding the linkage it had done for China. The issue was to were opposed to its initiative and agency between the notion of the collective and address questions of inequality through to attain its own future. This needed a that of power; how dimensions of redistribution rather than neoliberal coherent plan, which would include the inequality, exclusion, marginality etc. lead developmentalism. agency and method for creating it. It would to vital questions; how to unleash involve institutional architecture and se- necessary movements for (in) forming our Presentation by Benjamin Soares curity architecture, as well as a common future; the current declarations about The presentation started by exploring market for the continent. A case in point "emergence of Africa" amongst African "Euro-pessimism" versus "Afro-pessi- was China, which had used its market size countries; and the role of trade unions, mism". It explained that many develop- to enhance its agenda. Countries like Ni- civil society and social movements in ments in Europe showed how studies on geria, South Africa and Egypt, which had informing Africa’s "collective" future. He Africa were waning in Europe; that higher taken the lead in industrialization and de- underpinned the imperativeness of education in Europe was under stress velopment, would have to take the lead Africans designing their own destiny due to difficulties of funding and other to create the "continental hegemonic instead of reacting to external demands reasons including reduction in African triad" to drive the market agenda, etc. through the current projects like NEPAD students’ scholarships; reducing scopes They have the capacity to establish that and Vision 2063; building internal of scholarships to predetermined themes, alliance and undertake that vanguard role. capacities while rejecting external pressure for students to finish in time, Other measures included creating incen- agendas. This was because every pressure to raise external funding, etc. tives for the political class and putting in meaningful future had to be sufficiently These have resulted in reduction in the place checks and balances (balance of informed by the present. quality and quantity of education, re- power) so as to ensure that the political search and limited focus on "Centres of class acted in the right political direction. Presentation by Yang Guang Excellence". The saving grace was that This, in his view, required democracy at This presentation raised two important African studies has begun to flourish el- national level, civil society, organizing the points on the Chinese research commu- sewhere like Asia due to multipolarisation popular masses and a viable opposition. nity’s view about Africa and China-Afri- of the world by BRICS and MINT (Ma- Other require-ments included Pan-Africa- ca cooperation. The first one expressed laysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey). nism as an ideology, identity, language, great optimism of the Chinese research Many Africans were in Asia and other common values, etc. Pan-Africanism was community about the future of Africa and non-Euro-American spaces. All these viewed as a cosmopolitan identity. He its development. This optimism was pointed to the central role of CODESRIA concluded that a common market and based on observations and progress at continentally and globally. It would have Pan-Africanism would bring all people theoretical level. They considered con- to remain as an African voice in the face together without roots. cepts like NEPAD, developmental state, of the increasing anti-academic and anti- etc. which were combining the role of the intellectual developments. Presentation by Adebayo market and state to address external chal- Olukoshi Round Table2: "Building Healthy lenges and relate to the domestic reforms. Societies – Epidemic Control and He noted, in his presentation the multiple Another example was the formulation of Prevention" past struggles for the future and the promising projects like Agenda 2063 plus pessimisms, which had been expressed specific programmes/sectoral responses. Chairperson : Cheikh Ibrahim Niang about Africa’s future. He warned that He emphasized that Africa had to own its Presenters : whereas the leftists envisioned the future and deve-lopment. • Phillis Kanki, futuristic tasks, many of which required On the second point, he envisioned • Isabel Casimiro, attention, dedication and time, some China-Africa cooperation being beneficial • Ibrahim Abdullah scholars lacked time for serious research. to Africaand identified the following • Khoudia Sow They therefore formulated solutions for preconditions for attaining this: improving All the four presentations focused on the unresearched problems. This resulted in the terms of trade for Africa, infrastructure pandemic threats to humanity in Africa. more unintelligibility of future studies, development, technological transfer, Three were on Ebola, which raided and which became more of daydreaming. He employment and experience-sharing with besieged the Mano River Basin in West underlined the imperativeness of Africa, cooperation between Chinese and Africa in May 2014. While it practically undertaking prospective studies and African intellectual communities and shut down three countries, but Nigeria experiencing projections for the future. think tanks. He stressed that Africa’s and Senegal were able to nip it in the bud This required inter alia, defining the development was possible; that African through stringent enforcement of problem, the agency and resources, the countries had to deliberately and administrative-political-medical measures. reasons why; linking the past, present and tirelessly work towards development the The fourth presentation explored HIV/ future; clarity about the geo-political and way China had done. They would have AIDS in Southern Africa and Brazil. The strategic interventions on the African to translate the continental visions to four presentations showed how states continent by superpowers seeking to gain national visions and improve investment CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 47 and peoples respond when faced with Islam and that it required more attention was imperative in Africa where many socio-medical threats. They demonstrated rather than politics alone. people were guided by existing belief how different responses; measures and systems. That without returning to On his part, Abdul Raufu Mustapha began interventions by the states, societies, and relive the past, it would be imperative by explaining how there was an external actors can determine the spread, to return to identity politics. ideological contestation within Islam in longevity, virulence and magnitude of any Nigeria and that some enemies of the Jibrin Ibrahim argued that fundamentalism epidemic regardless of its infectiousness state were going into extremist was a return to the source for new and malignancy. They also demonstrated antagonistic fundamentalism. While inspiration in religion. The problem was the political character of these pandemics. looking at the violence being perpetrated textuality. The Biblical and Koranic texts Round Table 3: Discussion Session on by Boko Haram in Nigeria, he pointed out gave interpretations, which could guide "Understanding and Transcending that the bmajority of Muslims – 90 percent praxis. Fundamentalisms were about were not Boko Haram. He highlighted six content and choices, which people did Fundamentalism" Held on 9 June 2015 dimensions of fundamentalism, which not know. Actions were taken about that from 4:15 – 5:45 PM. needed comprehending and transcending understanding. He noted that post- Chairperson: Anyang’Nyong’o to be able to decolonize it. colonial Africa had a very high level of religiosity and religious practices Presenters: 1. Clear distinction between global including prayers, which were • Fatou Sow Islam and local ones like Boko increasingly consuming a lot of time, • Abdul Raufu Mustapha Haram; thoughts, money and other resources. • Michael J. Neocosmos 2. Take their ideology seriously and Ousmane Kane, in his presentation, • Jibrin Ibrahim, their utilitarian political agenda. • Ousmane Kane began by historicizing Islam and 3. Their own interpretation of history; Christianity in Africa, their growth and Presenters in this round table raised issues 4. Sources of fundamentalism – how they had increased their education. revolving on how notions of exclusion, poverty or wicked Islam? He then etymologized fundamentalism rejections of status quos and quests for 5. Cruciality of politics. E.g. how from the end of the twentieth century, alternatives either through persuasion or developments in local, regional and explored its intertwinement with use of coercion always characterized funda- national governments inform violence and why it had been increasing mentalisms. Examples included messianic fundamentalisms. with new jihad groups as the literature salvation movements in the urban areas 6. Fundamentalisms not monolithic and from 2011-2014 showed. He explained how that promised the end of the world. The not all are extremists and violence- and why Islamic and Christian religious question was what these movements had oriented. militants were challenging the powerful on progressive movements, how they states in West Africa, killing people, rationalized oppression, and the John Neocosmos reflected on African controlling territory and taking people relationship between political power and politics of peace amidst intensified non- hostage, etc. The question that emerged fundamentalisms. Another common state violence. He focused on fundamen- was on the possibility of understanding peculiarity was their conservative talist politics and how people at the the most fundamentalists and proceeds rejection of cultural imperialism without grassroots opposed it. Focusing on to transcend them. He reflected on how any aim of effecting any social transfor- xenophobia in South Africa, he raised the Christianity and Islam were dominating mation. Their reliable constituency was following issues: Africa and their divisive character. the urban poor on whom they thrived but 1. That identity politics was fascism. had to use compulsion on the agrarian Round-Table 4-Reconfiguring South- Xenophobic nationalist violence had population. This was because the latter South Relations for Global specific features. Not only states but had no time to waste on them. Transformations also agencies/people. Fatou Sow’s presentation focused on 2. That inventing the Other becomes Presenters: fundamentalism in Senegal and focused an obstacle to the understanding of • Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Centre the inherency of ideological terrorism on the Other and leads to violence. of Economic and Social Studies – women in all fundamentalisms. She 3. That dominance of neoliberal capi- Coimbra (Portugal) pointed out that religious fundamentalism talism enables exclusionary organ- • Kuan-Hsing Chen, Institute for Social was culturally ingrained. She explained ization, leads to false humanism and Research and Cultural Studies, Inter- how this fundamentalism rejected gender false universalism – thinking around Asia School, Chiao Tung University parity on flimsy, nonreligious ground that narrow interests. (Taiwan) man was above woman. The problem was 4. That liberal states create conditions • Lin Xinfeng, Chinese, Academy for that while Senegal was a Muslim country, for exclusion and inequality; no idea Social Sciences (China) it politically proclaimed secularism rather of egalitarian state. That the than theocracy. She emphasized that minimum of common good should • Sam Moyo, African Institute for rights were not in the Koran but were not be subjected to the market, and Agrarian Studies, Zimbabwe political. As such, Senegal could not base that it required thinking outside the The round table opened with remarks on the Koran to define political rights state and its logic. from the chair, Ebrima Sall, who noted that since it was secular. She underlined how 5. That there was need to study how global relations were lopsided and the there was little discourse on political people think when they are power relations unbalanced in favour of confronted by a problem. That this Western nations. Within this context it CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 48 was noted that the South had evolved as that requires South-South Cooperation to noted to have emerged during the course an epistemological construct, concept, as redress. of global transformation with respect to well as its geographical dimensions. He Africa’s relations with other parts of the In his own contribution, Li Xinfeng noted that it was an opportune moment world, specifically with regards to land focused on China-Africa relations in the to rethink the South within the changing issues. These included, the growth in the South-South cooperation. He indicated global order. CODESRIA has been number of actors from about three or four that South-South cooperation has grown connecting with scholars in Asia and Latin European countries during the colonial since the Bandung Conference. The America in a quest for knowledge building period to about 22 actors from the North, South is striving for a new world order as in the South by scholars from the South East and South investing in land resour- the resource gap between the North and themselves. Intellectual collaboration ces in Africa. Now land investments have South was widening characterised by between CODESRIA and International attracted over 15 countries from Europe, increasing poverty levels and wars in the Development Economics Associates whose identities tend to be hidden in the South. South-South relations are thus a (IDEAs) in Asia, and the Latin American phenomenon of sovereign funds that are priority for developing countries at this Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) in used to acquire land. The relations are juncture. China and Africa, according to Latin America is currently in place much more complex and require detailed him, share a long history of collaboration through various tri-continental research empirical examination, he said. and common history in the role of projects. agriculture in economic transformation. Round-Table 5: Industrialisation, Trade Boaventura de Sousa Santos, outlined the The relations are based on mutual trust and Structural Transformation conceptualisation of the term "Global between the two cooperating partners • Takyiwaa Manuh, UNECA (Addis South" and observed the various forms and do not entail any strings attached as Ababa) of historical and contemporary coope-ra- those of the West. tion in the South. He noted that the "Glo- • Said Adejumobi, UNECA (Lusaka) Sam Moyo prefaced his presentation by bal South" was not a geographical term, asking what changes have taken place in • Theresa Moyo (University of but a geo-political term used to describe the South under global transformation Limpopo) parts of the world that have been histori- over the last couple of decades and what cally associated with various terminolo- Summary of Presentations effects these have had on South-South gy including "developing world" and relations. Another key question posed Takyiwa Manuah’s presentation focused "third world". Global South cooperation was how knowledge production can be on the social imperatives required to he noted was emerging as alternative to deployed to enhance South-South coo- support Africa’s push for industria- the dominant North-North cooperation peration. Overall, North-South relations lisation, trade and structural trans- that currently characterises the world have remained dominant, despite the in- formation. She noted that industrialisation landscapes. Santos traced the origin of creasing growth in the South-South coo- and trade were back on the agenda and South-South cooperation to the Haiti in- peration. It was highlighted that since the UNECA was devoting substantial dependence movement. It was exhibited Bandung conference, there has been research and publications to these topics. in various independence movements in much social and economic differentiation Africa’s economic growth was noted as Africa and Latin America (e.g. the role of between the North and South, while dif- the fastest growing in the region over the USSR and China in assisting the various ferentiation has also been exhibited wi- last decade, but the growth has not liberation move-ments on the continent – thin the South itself with the emergence translated into poverty reduction for the Mozambique and Zimbabwe). The South- of semi-industrialised or semi-periphery region’s poor people. The growth is being South cooperation in its contemporary countries in the South. The intellectual primarily driven by services rather than forms is currently fragmented and cuts tendencies, it was noted, had been to fo- manufacturing with limited employment across intellectual, state and civil society cus on the jump by some countries in the opportunities. Manufactured goods only spheres. He noted that BRICS was a con- South over the last 60 years from peri- constitute a miniscule of Africa total trade, temporary form of South-South coopera- phery to semi-periphery or semi-industria- while intra-African trade was only 16.3 tion aimed at providing an alternative lised countries. Sam Moyo said that there percent of its total trade volumes. The development platform for the south. were two broad perspectives in the un- opportunities for Africa to industrialise Chen’s presentation outlined the need for derstanding of South-South relations. were immense given the substantial value South-South cooperation in order to One was of "Recolonisation of Africa" of its natural resource and demographic overcome the challenges imposed by the specifically with respect to China’s in- growth that will provide a huge internal division of nation-states during the fluence on the continent which was groun- market for its products. For Africa to colonial period. This is required to re- ded on popular sentiment on the street. achieve its objectives key social inves- integrate Asian scholars in particular at He noted that the current framing of tments were required in developing the the level of knowledge production. He knowledge on China-Africa relations was human capacities through education, outlined various initiatives in Asia to dominated by Western scholars, yet it was health, social infrastructure and quality develop Inter-Asian Networks from the CODESRIA which was in the forefront of of employment. early 1990s that culminated in the articulating the centre-periphery relations On education, it was noted that although formation of Inter-Asia School in 2012. in the 1970s. The major challenge for CO- universal education had increased on the Unequal resource distribution in the DESRIA is how to produce knowledge continent, completion rates and quality world was highlighted as a key imperative about Africa by African scholars. A who- of learning achievements were still very le range of interesting questions were low. It was thus important for Africa to CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 49 focus education investments on Science, failed as a result of flawed assumptions Experiences from abroad can be used by Technology and Mathematics (STEM) that (i) Industrialisation can be imported Africa to develop an industrial strategy education that will catalyse and form the from the West ; (ii) Foreign Direct Inves- based on natural resources as was the basis for the continent’s industrial tment (FDI) will stay on the continent and case in Norway. The successful indus- strategy. The health of Africa’s workforce, (iii) Technology transfer without adapting trialisation of Africa, according to Moyo Professor Manuah noted, was directly to local conditions will suit Africa. was contigent upon eight key factors : (i) linked to labour productivity. Investment development of institutions to support To achieve its objectives in Indus- in health facilities and quality of health industry ; (ii) implementation of growth trialisation and Structural Transformation services is thus a key building block in policies ; (iii) enabling macro-economic four key issues were highlighted by the industrialisation process. The policies ; (iv) investment in skills and Ademujobi. These include : growing urbanisation in Africa, not human development ; (v) regional and accompanied by industrialisation, has led (i) Industrialisation needs to be international trade agreements and to a strain on the cities’ social infra- conceptualised as a political project partnerships ; (vi) intensive efforts to structure. With regards to employment, with an economic plan. African attract FDI ; (vii) inclusive approaches she noted that over 77% of the employed countries will thus need to adopt and (viii) developmental state. She noted people in Africa work in the informal sector the relevant policy choices and that the three countries she examined had characterised by low labour productivity institutions to undertake this made progress in diversifying their and technologies. It was thus imperative mission. economies. Growth was highlighted on to develop the skills to match the industrial (ii) FDI will not propel the indus- three variables analysed by the study aspirations of the continent in order to trialisation of the continent, thus namely; job creating, manufacturing, match the demand. there is a need to develop a mining and services sectors. domestic industrial capitalist class Professor Said Adejumobi’s presentation that will lead this process. Some of the questions raised addressed the intersection between "Re- (iii) Industrialisation should be based during the discussions gional trade and industrialisation". He on the development of new ente- prefaced his presentation by highlighting Pertinent questions raised in the rprises in agriculture and allied discussion were on the need to clarify the two major policy developments that had sectors taken place on the continent recently that type of industrialisation that is being included the signing of the Tripartite Free (iv) Race to the bottom will not assist pursued in this second phase of Trade Agreement between COMESA, in Africa’s quest for industrialisa- industrialisation: is it for export promotion EAC and SADC by 15 countries in June tion as represented by increasing or import substitution? Is it heavy or light 2015 and the adoption of a Strategy on numbers of bilateral relations industrialisation? Is it labour or capital Industrialisation by SADC in April 2015 between several African countries intensive industrialisation? Is it foreign and China. Specifically it was as important steps towards the trade and or domestic industrialisation? highlighted that the bilateral agree- industrialisation agenda. He however ments were more favourable to The drivers of industrialisation on the noted that there were tensions and con- China than they were to African continent were also questioned by the tradictions regarding regional trade and countries. participants. In particular, how the liberalisation, as fears abound that China domestic industrial class would be deve- Theresa Moyo’s presentation focused on will sieze the enlarged economic space loped given that private banks in general the "Innovative Industrialisation Appro- created by the TFTA since industrialisa- are not willing to lend for long-term aches in Africa : Experiences of Botswana, tion was low. Liberalised regional trade is projects. While Africa was noted to have Mauritius and South Africa. The quest generally associated with less win-win demographic dividend in the project for industrialisation, it was noted, was not situations so the imperative for industriali- growth of the population that is assumed new to Africa but can be traced to the sation is back on the agenda in a big way. will form a huge "market" for the manu- Lagos Plan of Action amongst many other factured products, yet the demography Adejumobi noted that "Structural Trans- initiatives including the UN decade of will not constitue a market if it is not formation" should be understood as shift industrialisation. The manufacturing accompanied by income growth to form in the structure of production that is value added on the continent was noted effective demand patterns for goods and accompanied by qualitative impro- to be on the decline, whilst its reliance on services. Building the incomes of the vements in human capital and social primary commodity production and grassroots was thus noted as a missing development. Its four components entail: exports remains a key characteristic of link in current industrialisation strategies (i) re-allocation of resources from many countries in Africa. The imperative which benefit a few people creating dual Agriculture to industry; (ii) Demographic for industrialisation is being partly driven economies of rich and poor people. In this shift from country to town; (iii) rise of by external demand shocks on the prices regard, there were calls to ensure that modern industrial sector and (iv) Growth of primary commodities. Moyo highli- Africa’s industrialisation is not solely of services sector. ghted that industrialisation was key for designed for the service of Euro-America Africa as it would spur the development The current aspirations for indus- to the exclusion of its majority poor on the continent, create backward and trialisation represent a second major push people. on the continent following Import forward linkages between various sectors Substitution Industrialisation Strategies on the economy, and reduce external The outcomes for industrialisation adopted by most African governments depen-dency on manufactured products. process were also a key concern in the after independence. The first phase had discussion especially on the pattern of CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 50 benefitting only a few people, while the • Mahmood Mamdani, MISR/Columbia Africa are of how to re-assert the eman- socio-economic character of the majority University cipation of the African peoples. The regress or stagnate. It was highlighted • Ato Onoma, CODESRIA possibilities for "now" were more urgent that there were no guarrantees that than those of the future. The struggles • Marylinn Ossome, Rhodes University industrialisation would bridge the of today are many, including closed inequality gaps as is the case currently in Professor Thandika Mkandawire opened survival spaces for young people and South Africa, the state was expected to the roundtable by highlighting that the need our attention to forge ahead. She intervene to redistribute incomes to predictions about Africa’s future require proposed the deployment of "History" protect the poor people on the continent. a huge amount of imagination in Social as method to retrieve the history of the How to ensure that industrialisation does Sciences. Mired in the day to day survival oppressed, before we imagine the future. not result in dual economies consisting of the massess, it is easy to forget to Such a process will lead to a present that of a minority few and majority poor was a reflect on the future. Eight presentations is well understood. In looking forward, key question raised in the discussions. were made each exploring different Shivji argued that the deployment of perspectives of imagining the ‘Africa we history as a method enables the under- The questions raised in the discussions want’. also focused on how Africa has been site standing of how the struggles of African of experimentation of industrial projects Sylla Ndongo outlined two broad people are rooted in a deep historical that were based on wholesale importation perspectives that are deployed to think context. of Western models. The prospects for about the future; namely economic growth Mamadou Diouf’s presentation also national projects for industrialisation at plans and equality projects. The latter is emphasised the importance of history in current juncture was also put under the characterised by a mission for achieveing understanding the future. The main spotlight in Africa given that state-led a future of equal participation by the argument proffered by Diouf was that it companies were instrumental in the case citizenry in shaping their destiny through was impossible to imagine the future if of China in spurring industrial growth, yet the breaking of the monopoly power held we cannot understand the present. He Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) by politicians. The former are most highlighted that it was important to know in Africa discouraged state participation. commonly used to predict the future on "who was thinking about the future of the basis of economic growth projections. Africa" and the perspectives of the The ideological orientation of the indus- They take the form of 50 year programmes trialisation strategy was a key concern average African in these issues, beyond that are predicated on the assumption that the intellectual dominance in these highlighted in the discussion. Participants equality will follow from economic growth. discourse. There are a plurality of visions noted that while industrial strategies in Examples cited by Ndongo included the on Africa which are based on different the EU are based on national interests, Lagos Plan of Action and current Agenda perspectives. Africa’s future, he noted, the overarching ideology of pan-Africa- 2063 under the auspices of the African was imagined in economic terms, nism was not embedded within the stra- Union. The economic growth plans tend precluding the thinking outside of the tegies being pursued by Africa. The role to provide superficial figures of growth of globalisation in the industrialisation economic structure. that are not achievable. agenda was also raised in the discussion. This historical analysis, Diouf argues According to Ndongo, economic growth Indeed it was highlighted that there are needs to be pursued from a long-term figures are an unreliable indicator of many countries in the South that have perspective. The history of Africa is human development and progress. Using industrialised as part of the globalisation predominantly thought of in three process. This put to the fore three chal- two country case studies (Botswana and paradigms: (i) as tied to the shackles of lenges that need to be resolved in the in- Equatorial Guinea) which are touted to dependence; (ii) the hope of the world dustrialisation agenda: (i) sovereignity of have done well economically between and (iii) Africa must unite. Rather than countries within globalisation context; (ii) 1960 and 2000 in terms of GDP per capita being imposed on the world system, role of the state within the current neo- growth rates and compare favourably to Africa needs to take its place in the world liberal framework that is averse to state such developed countries as Spain, by recreating a new universal that deta- intervention and (iii) how to mobilise do- Ndongo notes that their human ches it from the perception of a dark past. mestic resources to support the indus- development indicators rank poorly. For Structural adjustment policies made the trialisation process. instance, Equatorial Guniea was ranked future of the continent uncertain. It the least developed country despite the Round-Tables 6 and 7: The Africa We Want brought to the fore the need for new impressive economic growth rates. Whilst Chair: Thandika Mkandawire Botswana, which is also ranked very questioning on how we can build a new highly in terms of democracy and good future. Presenters governance with growth rates exceeding Cultural dimensions, including the issues • Ndongo Sylla, Rosa Luxemborg those of South Korea between 1960 and of languages, which are negated by 2000, had the least life expectancy. • Natasha Shivji, State University of "economistic imagining" are also critical New York Natasha Shivji argued that we should in thinking about the future. In fact, Diouf emphasised that we need a culture of • Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University instead pose a different question as talking about the future when we have social construction to forge ahead. This • Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Uni- not sufficiently understood our present brings to the fore the characterisation of versity of Ghana is problematic. It is based on a modernity a post-genocide Rwanda as model of • Mshai Mwangola, Africa Leadership project, yet the challenges we face in economic development. Centre, Kenya CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 51

Titled "Dreaming Wide Awake", Akosua its origins can be traced to the Indian Ossome’s presentation emphasised the Ampofo argues that in imagining the ocean trade which was characterised by need to resolve the present challenges future of Africa, story telling provided an non-militarisation. In its contemporary that are being faced by Africa before we effective tool compared to science. She forms, it is associated with militarisation, think about the future. She opined that argued that science only has assistive global securitisation and exclusion of the under neo-liberalism, humanity was under power but has no causal power which are masses from reaping the benefits. attack. Neoliberal democracy, she argued found in story telling. Stories from the had intensified the attacks on people’s In her presentation, "Come and imagine past need to be reconnected to the future, identities, emphasised the politics of with me" Mwangola argues that the Africa whereby story tellers leverage on our recognition to the exclusion of the politics we want should be based on five tenets hopes to dream about the future. The of distribution that could pave way for namely; (i) cultural in foundation ; (ii) method of storytelling in thinking about the masses out of poverty and soverei- creative in essence ; (iii) democratic in the future, Ampofo informed the gnity of states had been compromised by substance (iv) generative and (v) participants, was well deployed by the transnational movement of goods. prospective in orientation. Culture is Nkrumah through the use of various Neoliberal democracy has absolved the considered as the foundation of a nation concert groups to popularise his agenda state of its responsibility in protecting the and in imagining the future, intellectuals for a Pan-African project. Recent examples people. In fact the states are more and need to engage with the cultural vision. of story telling cited by Ampofo included more constructing the people as the Following Cabral, Mwangola equates the use of social media for social action problem. The protection of the people’s national liberation to be an act of culture. through platforms such as Ushaidi that is rights is deferred to global institutions The creative in essence aspect entails the used to track conflicts in some African such as the ICC. need to bring something new to the countries. Political satire, she argued, is thinking about the future – what is new The human rights discourse within the creative space to think about the future in our thinking ? The generative aspect neoliberal framework negates the notion and it constitutes part of the democra- hinges on Fanon’s theorisation that every of history and presents all people as being tisation project. Overall, Ampofo urges us generation must define its own mission, equal, yet the reality is that countries such to be prophetic in thinking about the on which others will stand on. As such as South Africa that were touted as future and be alert to diversity, inter- every generation is part of a long line of models of upholding human rights are generational and gender dimensions. history. The mentoring of the youth is failing to sustain increasing populations Professor Mamdani expressed reserva- thus a critical aspect of thinking about who are impoverished. Women in tions in future studies, but instead the future. particular are noted as key losers under emphasised the need to historicise the neoliberal democracy and are increasingly present in order to get resources to open Onoma argued for the importance of reliant on men to ascend to positions of up new possibilities. To support his studying African institutions in the light authority, yet they constitute the majority reservations, Mamdani observed that of what they think of Africa of the future. of the voters. Landgrabis increasing at major historical event had been predicted The presentation made three obser- an alarming pace under neoliberalism with including the fall of the USSR and collapse vations that need to be taken into the dispossession of peasants of their of apartheid in South Africa. In order to account in imagining the future of Africa : land for conversion into large-scale demonstrate the importance of history in capitalist farms where they are promised understanding the present, Mamdani (i) It ought to be viewed not as geographical location, but as jobs, yet history tells us the wage cited two examples, namely that of something we want to create. Two economy is not sufficient to meet the xenophobia outbreaks in South Africa visions are dominant in this reproduction of the rural families. and the discourse on globalisation. With paradigm – one which thinks of Some of the key questions raised in the reference to the xenophobia outbreaks, Africa in terms of the external he noted that the current interpretations characteristics of the world (e.g. discussions were that the thinking about (i. South Africans are not grateful for help GDP) and second ; thinking of Africa the future of Africa was insurmountable rendered during apartheid by fellow in terms of the internal characteristics for intellectuals to pursue alone. In Africans; ii. Xenophobia is nothing new of the people that live in it particular, the absence of the views and aspirations of the people were observed on the African continent and iii. There is (ii) View it as its making. It is not a state, no social justice in South Africa) were not it will keep moving towards this in the discussions. Questions related how thinking of the present historically. South vision through a model of constant difficult it is to develop a future that is Africa was the hub of migrant labour in causation compliant with the aspirations of the people (including the youth), and the roles Southern Africa for long historical periods. (iii) How can we engender this process Xenophobia’s origins are traced from the of constant causation that organic intellectuals that are at the disenfranchisement of migrant labourers services of oppressed people can play. after 1994 elections in South Africa on the The institutions are always characterised The issue of the people’s agency was basis of narrow definitions of who as missing in the African context and their also evoked in the discussions, with calls belongs and who doesnt. It was thus an insertion is suggested to be a panacea to to understand why African people leave origin of the political class, and recent the continent’s problems. Yet in studying their leaders to construct them as the expressions are following the way social realities in Africa the emphasis has problems and how this is linked to the provided by the leaders. Regarding been on macro and micro-institutions to democratisation of society. globalisation, Mamdani also argued that the exclusion of the meso-level institutions. it is discussed in a historical vacuum, yet CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 52

Concerns were also raised about who was a vision of an alternate space. The The first panelist, Maria Teresa Henriques thinking about the future of Africa. presenters shared alternative paths to the Da Cunha Martins, in her presentation, Whether thinking about the future was a future as articulated by the protagonist stressed the need for women to make a Eurocentric project or rooted in Africa. or artist’s vision as expressed within the mark in their lives and that of their families The role of external actors in charting work. The choices made by the artists to beyond the patriarchal environment. She Africa’s destiny was identified as deploy certain stylistic devices or forms noted that historically, Africans are viewed problematic in the discussions, with some underscore the thematic content of the as primitive and ignorant and this has calls for Africa to define its own works in discussion, and leave us with a affected the case of African women approaches to development that are based demonstration of how art references, is in resulting in double prejudice. Also, in on African unity. The issue of what conversation with and either affirms or economic terms, African women are languages were being used to convey the subverts other artistic texts. For viewed as poor and less visible but messages about the future was also an example,the Saviour as envisioned in although African women are weak issue of concern. French and English are particular in and Ngugi wa Thiongo’s physically, they are strong in other areas the predominant languages used, yet Matigari and in Mario Lùcio Sousa’s O especially in perseverance, dignity, care participants noted that people understand Novissimo Testamento gives us alternate of the young. She noted that women are more their indigenous languages. visions of what the facilitator of liberation seen to be solely focused on reproductive Questions focused on the influence of might bring us, and might be. These are work while men are seen to have conflicts in thinking about the future as similar in that the Saviour is not drawn productive work adding that this these have a long history in Africa in the from the dominant class and likes, dichotomy does not make sense because various dimensions, including internal behaves and works very differently to all works are productive. She further country conflicts, regional conflicts, and common conceptualisations of what one stressed that women have the capacity conflicts between different classes in expects the Saviour or Messaiah of the to manage things around them including society. The negation of gender equality people to be and do. finances. They have a sense of responsibility and thus the stories of in the economic growth models was also The importance of creative intellectual women should be heard from their raised during the discussion. Specifically work to be taken as seriously and in perspective and lived experiences. participants questioned the assumptions conversation with other intellectual that gender equality was inherent in discourse, particularly in the dreaming The second panelist, Felesiah Arudo economic and political equality. into being alternative futures for Africa Yieke noted that women’s access to the cannot be over-emphasised. The ability public sphere has become a burning issue Reports from the Parallel for popular / mass culture to reach wide and that women are still marginalized in Sessions audience and act as a catalyst for social this area. She posed a rhetorical question: African Popular Culture and The organising should be given emphasis. why is it that several countries are ahead Imagination of Alternate Futures of Kenya in meeting this goal of improved Towards more democratic futures – women participation in development Chair: F.E.M.K. Senkoro making governance beneficial to all agenda and further identified contributory Africans Presenters: constraints to include poverty, poor Presenters: education, unequal opportunities, • Gbemisola Aderemi Adeoti: conflict, etc. The presenter noted that this Demystifying the Future in Africa’s • Ante Sane – Howard University – issue has been in the front burner of some (un)Vanishing Past; A Study of Gender Inequality in the Process of NGOs and international organizations in Ngugi wa Thiongo’ s Novels Public Good Governance: The Case Kenya though there appear to be of Senegalese Parliament • Msia Kibona Clark: Afropolitan inequality in their initiatives and thus little Identities: Representations of • Maria Teresa Henriques Da Cunha improvement seen. For example, some African Immigrant Experiences in Martins – University of Coimbra focused on the plight of elitist women with African Hip-Hop (Portugal) – Women in Power: little work done on that of the rural women. Women, Democracy and Human • Catarina Isabel Caldeira Martins: The presenter concluded that Kenya Recreating African Futures through Dignity in Non-capitalist Experiences should borrow from initiatives from Literary Imagination: The Newest led by Women in South-East Africa countries outside of Kenya to improve Gender, Racial, National and African • Felesiah Arudo Yieke – Laikipia on this and that development cannot be identities as revealed in Mario Lùcio University College, Kenya – Women sustained if women are not fully part of Sousa’s O Novissimo Testamento Citizenship and Participatory developmental process (The New Testament) Democracy in Developmental States • Francis Beng Nyamjoh: Amos in Africa: The Case of Kenya The third panelist Adediran Daniel Tutuola’s The Palm Wine Drinkard • Adediran Daniel Ikuomola – Ikuomola noted that the traditional role and the Art of Endless Possibilities Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria of women as housewives and home The parallel session was devouted to – Electioneering, Electoral Violence keeper puts women in a disadvantaged presentions on specific historical and and Fear of Crime: The Odds in position especially in participation in social context of the political and geo- Main-streaming Gender in Nigerian politics. His study examined various social contexts within which the work is Politics factors that put women behind in politics set and the form the artist uses to convey CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 53 by interviewing 45 key women leaders in tribute to African societies and economies, The papers in this session were a panel, Oyo and Lagos states of Nigeria. the author argues that more can be done. presented in relation to each other. There is a need to reinvigorate the dias- Ndlovu-Gatsheni laid out the theoretical The fourth panelist, Ante Sane in her pora so that they move into quality as- framework and the other presenters presentation, noted that Senegal is ranked pects, which will then boost growth. The elaborated further through their focus on 6th in the world with largest women skills and experience of the diaspora could the following issues. population in the parliament. Inspite of lead to the creation of a new Africa throu- this slight growth she noted that there is gh the development of a bicultural identi- • Decoloniality challenges the still room for improvement. Factors that ty, which will be formed, by the forging Cartesian notion of being that hinder women participation in politics and reinforcement of transnational and produces hierarchies of cultures, were identified to include: illiteracy, lack intergenerational connections with the and affirms a notion of being which of access and control over income and continent. The bicultural identity will in- is contingent on others. The other resources; language barrier – this tegrate and preserve African culture and question as to what this actually is because most of the charters are written means and how it influences how we identity while also including foreign cul- in different languages. Other factors think and act as African intellectuals tures and modernity. The author also ex- include: lack of solidarity among women, and beings is an important one plores the contribution of education and lack of training on the roles and work in Western societies towards Afri- • What is validated by who and for regulations of the parliament. Strategies can development, arguing that there is a what reasons as knowledge; what is that could be used to overcome these need to rethink the African model for de- prioritised and by who and what barriers include: partnering with men in reasons for African curriculum and velopment through the crucial role of edu- politics, girl child education, skill asses- research cation. There is also the issue of cultural sment and training, improved solidarity identity and the author argues that cultu- • What does it take to go beyond the among women. She recommended that re is adaptive. There is a dialectical move- "numbers game" when it comes to creating a national database that will ment between people and regions and affirmative action and to what extent house bills, improved skills in communi- migrants can incorporate new cultural ele- does playing the numbers game cation writing and in rule of parliament, obscure the real issues of qualitative ments into host societies. The author talks girl-child education etc., should be upheld. transformation of African societies about scientific socialisation and develo- especially in relation to gender? The African Diaspora in the Recreation pment of education and labour as being of Africa’s Futures significant. Some constraints are howe- • What experiences, processes, events ver present; for instance the brain drain etc dominate our understanding of Presenters ourselves, our lives, our knowledges syndrome has caused a lot of damage. and therefore define who we are and There is also the risk of cultural loss, es- • José Mvuenzolo Bazonzi ; La what we invest in as we envision our pecially through the influence of western diaspora africaine et l’identité futures? How does decoloniality as biculturelle: enjeux et defies pour la cultures and globalisation and the youth a theory take us beyond the existing reinvention de l’Afrique in the diaspora are confused on which alternatives that centre the colonial • Abdoulaye Guèye ; Expatriation et culture to adopt – the ancestral or that of experience and other experiences of développement: l’investissement the country they live in. The author con- oppression, dehumanisation and des universitaires africains en poste cludes by stating that one cannot unde- pain? How does it allow us to replace en Amérique du Nord dans le restimate the contribution of the diaspora the hegemonic master-narrative with renforcement des institutions de to development in Africa. The diaspora is narratives that affirm us as African recherche scientifique en Afrique free to choose elements to contribute cul- peoples and nations? turally to African development as it is also • Frank Aurelien Tchokouagueu; • What theories – such as Negritude reconfiguring its own cultural identity. Impact des mutations socioéco- and Panafricanism – is decoloniality nomiques et démographiques Decoloniality and African Futures in in conversation with? How does it actuelles et futures en Afrique sur the Twenty-first Century take us beyond the limitations and les échanges migratoires entre contradictions of these into new Chair: Nkolo Foe l’Afrique et le reste du monde: quand theoretical ground? l’immigration perd le nord Presenters: • Can decoloniality level out the • Jalani Adwin Hamid Sadiki Niaah Olana Niaah; "I’d rather see a • Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni: Global epistemological playing ground of sermon than hear one …": Africa/ Coloniality and the Challenges of the African academy, and even in the Heaven and the Diaspora in Creating Creating African Futures global one? How might it fix the Global Futures and Transformation unicentricity of Eurocentricity? Can • Akhona Nkenkanan: No African it help facilitate the re-ordering of The presenations here focused on the Futures Without the Liberation of existing hierarchies, epistemologies, African diaspora, stressing on the fact that Women: A Decolonial Feminist knowledge products and processes the diaspora is highly skilled and therefo- Intervention within in particular the African re has the potential to play a crucial role • Morgan Ndlovu: Coloniality of academy, providing a logic for the in African development. While there is a Knowledge and the Challenge of prioritising of African agendas and link between Africans in the diaspora and Creating African Futures lived experiences within our univer- their home countries and they also con- sities and other knowledge spaces? CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 54

International Criminal Justice, The paper provided a critical analysis of • Sabastiano Rwengabo; Institutional Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and the foreign humanitarian interventions, Design and the APSA’s imple- Sovereignty in the Africa of the Future especially in the post-Cold War era, in the mentation in Eastern Africa so-called "fragile", "failed" and • Arka Abota Aynako; Regional Integra- Presenters "collapsed" States. It specifically focused tion and Pathways to African future: • Maria Paula Guttierrez Meneses, on the causes and consequences of the The Case of East African Power Pool Entangled Histories of Multiple emergence of the unilateral foreign • Nkwachukwu Julius Orji; National Conflicts: The Complex Landscape military interventions in late 1990s by Legislative Assemblies and African of War and Peace in Mozambique addressing the most emblematic and Regional Integration: The Role of the • Bahati Bahati Mujinya, Forgetting controversial cases and, more recently, in Nigerian Parliament in ECOWAS the Crimes and the Issue of Libya and Mali. It also sought to map out, • Bahim El Morchid ; Pour une Reparation to Victims: Which Option in an embryonic manner, the pathways meilleure integration des institutions for Lasting Peace in the Democratic that can lead to overcoming the limits informelles dans les strategies de Republic of Congo posed by both multilateral and unilateral développement en Afrique: Une • Hinnougnon Nathaniel Kitti, La solutions regarding foreign military approche néo-institutionelle Cour Pénale Internationale (CPI) à interventions of humanitarian nature. The presenters here focused on the con- l'épreuve des poursuites en Afrique- Neo-Liberalism and the Financialization ditions that were enabling and limiting The International Criminal Court of Natural Resources in Africa regional integration in different parts of (ICC) test of prosecutions in Africa Africa. The need for an all-inclusive ap- • Odair Bartolomeu Barros Lopes Presenters proach to regional integration was Varela, External Humanitarian Inter- • Emmanuel Kasongo Mungongo, stressed. There have been changes in ventions in Africa: Legitimacy and Universite de Kinshasha (RDC) – organising at institutional levels, especial- Limits. The Case of States "Fragile", De-mondialiser le sector minier pour ly on issues pertaining to African peace "Failed" or "Collapsed" developer L’Afrique and security architecture. Fieldwork in Summary of Presentations • Etanislas Ngodi – Universite Marien East Africa showed that multiple mem- bership in regional economic communi- The presenations in this session exa- – Vision africane des mines at ties and regional brigades have created mined the international criminal justice governance de la rente a l horizon decision-making overlaps and conflicting and the responsibility to protect African • Teresa Maria de Cruz e Silva – obligations. This has also led to differen- sovereignty in the future. Maria Paula Eduardo Mondlane University tial impacts on states and implementation Guttierrez Meneses’ paper highlighted Mozambique – Access a recursons challenges. that historical uniqueness of countries are naturals a luta pela sobreviveacia neglected when making laws in recent experiencias de cabo Delgado In the areas of finance, banking and times. Nation-state building is a violent Mocambique issues of security, a monetary affairs process in nature. The identification and • Moussa Willy Batenga – Universite committee which brings together persecution of the collaborators in de Ouagadougou Burkina Faso – La governors of central banks of these Mozambique and the violence that charac- question de l emergence decryptee different countries is important and there terized these processes is an integral part a travers la valorization d une is also a need to find a way towards of independent Mozambique history. The resource naturrele au Burkina faso: financial integration. International Criminal Court (ICC), Truth le Karite (Vitellaria paradoxa) Fashioning African Futures: Commissions (TC) reproduce a model for The presentations here focused on the Disciplinary, Interdisciplinary and criminal justice that, by proxy, reproduce effect of globalization on mining Gendered Perspectives the experiences of war courts set up with companies , noting that the future of the of World War II. However, other Africa with reference to Agenda 2063, Presenters models have been in used in Africa to deal need to take into cognizance the potential • Patricia Alexandra Godinho Gomes with conflict situations, as the case of the of mining sector in Africa. Access to truth commissions in Mozambique natural resources is a huge problem in • Jose Maria dias Teixeira illustrate. The situations analysed show, different communities especially the Patricia Alexandra Godinho Gomes pre- the goal of the truth commissions was to mining sector, tourism and energy sector sented a paper titled ‘The Guinean broaden trust and to create conditions for and the demand for energy is triggered Woman as Subject and Object of Contem- people to regain their dignity, as fully by the expansion of new markets and porary Historical Debate: Lessons from trusted citizens. But these conditions are consequently new spaces of social the Historic Examples of Theodora Inácia hard to achieve, as the case of Mozam- struggle have risen as a result of this. Gomes’. She reflected on the use of indi- bique demonstrates. genous knowledge to understand Africa, Regional Integration and Pathways to adding that colonial experiences and Bahati Bahati Mujinya’s presentation African Futures argued that amnesty and reparations to impact can be helpful. Jose Maria dias victims is critical to peace consolidation Preseters: Teixeira, paper dealt with a reflection on in DRC. • Gordon Onyango Omenya; Coalition gender in the society, education and institutions to effect transformations. Odair Bartolomeu Barros Lopes Varela’s of the Willing as a Pathway to African Arguments were advanced that the way paper argued that legitimacy has limits. Future Integration: Some Reflections on East African Regional Integration society represents gender needs change CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 55 as equality and gender tend to affect only Towards more Democratic Futures – convenience? The third panelist was women. Making Governance Beneficial for all Godfred Nsangou Mbolo Chimy from Africans CEFAM Cameroun & Susana Yene Chimy Regional Integration and Pathways to Awasom CEFAM/MINATD Cameroun African Futures Presenters discussed "Challenges of good gover- • Charly Delmas Nguefack Tsafack ; • Andre Mbata Mangu – University nance in Africa through the Prism of a La citoyenneté communautaire afri- of South Africa, South Africa. uniform accrual accounting standard: caine et l’avenir du processus Constitutionalism and Democracy in Implementing issues with Cameroun a d’intégration régionale en Afrique. Africa: Do Constitutions and case study" The main presenter Godfred Comment oeuvrer pour une bonne Democracy still Matter? Mbala in his definition of term stated that gouvernance future de l’Union. • Richard Asante – University of accrual accounting is an accounting • Babatunde Olaitan Fagbayibo, ‘I am Ghana, Legon - & Emmanuel Debrah system previously used by the private an African’: A Critical Examination – The Legislature and the Executive sector, and is more encompassing than of the Politics of Transnational in Ghana’s Fourth Republic: A those used in the public sector. The World Identity Within the Context of Marriage of Convenience Bank has therefore suggested that this African Integration • Godfred Nsangou Mbolo Chimy – form of accounting could be used in the • Abdul Karim Bangura, Promoting CEFAM Cameroun & Susana Yene public sector for improved efficiency. Sustainability and Predicting Chimy Awasom CEFAM/MINATD Pathways To Sustainable Developed Tipping Points in Africa: Suggestion Cameroun – Challenges of Good Community for a Collaborative initiative via E- Governance in Africa through the clustering Prism of a Uniform Accrual Accoun- Chair: Odile Ndoumbé Faye ting Standard: Implementing Issues • Vusi Gumede; Regional Integration Presenters: and African Renaissance: Moving with Cameroun as a Case Study beyond the Rhetoric • Mohamed Mohamed Ibrahim Aly • Sybille Ngo Ngeck: "Contractual • Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo; Hagag – Cairo University Egypt – Schemes in Africa’s Political Africa’s Relations with BRICS: A Democratic Local Government Development: Conceptualising Old Search for Multipolar Development approaches in Africa: Decentra- Practices and Establishing Rele- Paradigms or Reconfiguration of lization Policies in Egypt and Ethiopia vance with New Governance Models st Unipolar Liberal Globalisation • Raidh Harizi – Universite de Tunis for the 21 Century" The presenations here focused on & Mohammed Taoufik Bouzidi et • Alex Egodotaye Asakitipikpi: Rafaac Mraihi. L’equite de develop- community citizenship and regional "Healthcare Delivery and the MDGs: ment regional passé par la baisse des integration. Questions on how the Lessons from Neo-Liberal Policy in iniquities socio spatiales et une institution of African citizenship could Sub-Saharan Africa" amelioration de l’acces-sibilities • John Mary Kanyamurwa: "Politics consolidate regional citizenship in Africa regionale. L’exemple de la Tunisie were posed as well as the criteria for the Post-revolution of Natural Resource Management establishment of status of community and Accountable Systems in the Deli- citizen to the African. The need to move Summary of Presentations very of Water Systems in Uganda" beyond the legal aspect, when defining The first panelist was Andre Mbata • Lotsmart Fonjong: "Rethinking oneself as an African was proded much Mangu from University of South Africa. Women Land Rights Concerns in the as were reflections on what makes people His presentation was on "Constitu- Evolution of Large Scale Land Acquisition in sub-Saharan Africa" African. Lastly, one author made a tionalism and democracy in Africa: Do presenation on how mathematicians can constitution and election still matter in • Mohammed-Bello Yunusa: "Climate help Africans achieve the challenges of francophone Africa" His presentation Change, Desertification, Livelihood development – work with social and other noted that establishment of constitution Challenges and Urban Futures: A behavioural scientists to help Africa and and democracy constitute the biggest Reflection on Nigeria" adopt the mathematics of sustainability project in African politics, thus there is This panel dealt with the politics, realities and mathematics of tipping points. no future for the continent if we do no and machinations around the allocation Integration, it was argued by another consider these concepts. He further and management of natural resources and presenter, is not possible in Africa because stressed that elections are determining service delivery. It underscored the need of ethnic, tribal conflicts. On the issue of institutions in political experience, to delve beneath the appearance of the BRICS, Tukumbi Lumumba-kasongo drawing a quote from Claude Ake things and phenomena, whether it be the argued, there is need to question pos- ‘democracy has simply been reduced to apparent easy "sell-out" of African land sible outcome and benefits of BRICS to the practices of organized parties’ to by African rulers to the European Africa. BRICS is not addressing the issue buttress his point. The second presen- metropole, or the abdication of their of pan-Africanism, but rather focuses on tation made by Richard Asante from responsibility to act in the best interest national interest, exploitation and is a new University of Legon, Ghana focused on of their constituencies, or the too easy interpretation of the capitalist system. "The legislature and the executive in acceptance of the inevitability of natural Ghana’s fourth republic: A marriage of or man-made processes. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 56

Designing and Building Resilient and The first panelist, Surendren Pillay • Serge Bernard Emmnuel Aliana, Socially Inclusive Societies stressed that the promise and hope for (Re)penser la démocratie deliberative political modernity that is laden with en Afrique à l'aune de la palabre afri- Presenters: freedom and stability is the yearning of caine une approche philosophique the South African state. To him, political par la théorie des capacities. • Ayuk Nkem Agbortoko Manyigbe: modernity should strive to stimulate a "Rural- Urban Interactions as a Con- Presentations in this panel focused on healthy political struggle for the benefit temporary Paradigm to Sustainable how to make democracy and good gover- Development in Africa: The Case of of all. He called for SA to move beyond nance work for Africa. Meme Division, Cameroon" triple burden of inequality, religion and racism and also the need for eradication Towards a New Research Agenda • Perpetual Maria Adjoa Crentsil: of racism. The second panelist, Abubakar for CODESRIA "The Role of NGOs and Civil Society Momoh noted that studies around Engagement in HIV / AIDS Initiatives Discussions of CODESRIA’s new in Africa; The Case of Ghana" democracy in Africa portrayed that Research agenda took place on Friday, 12 citizens prefer one party democracy, • Pedzisayi Leslie Mangezvo: June 2015 and flowed from the recom- because of fear of marginalization; an "Xenephobia and the Re-ordering of mendations that had been made by the example was drawn from the Tanzanian Power, Population and Place" intellectual agenda review committee. experience. Recalling the statements by • Ethel Ngere Nangia : "Care for Older Yusuf Bangura, he stated that ‘liberation The first few minutes of the session were Persons in Cameroon; Alternatives is a project that is worth building in Africa taken up by discussions on the amend- for Social Development" and that we should embrace it’. And as ments of the CODESRIA charter. In view The panellists approached the question the debate goes on, he added that Claude of the impending elections, it was of resilience and inclusivity from different Ake concluded that the form of necessary to decide on when the perspectives, establishing the stratifica- democratization going on in Africa is that amended charter came into force. In tion of society that has implied hierarchies of disempowerment largely because discussions chaired by Issa Shivji, a of being with real consequences in the foreign languages disenfranchised many resolution was passed to the effect that delivery of social services and basic pro- Africans, he noted. He went further to the amended charter came into effect from th tections. The panelists argued for the stress that the discourse about the 15 June 2015. This meant the need for greater understanding of the democratization is a work in progression impending elections had to be conducted channel of flows between urban and rural and this concept as used in Africa is using the old charter. This resolution was places that are linked to see how both highly racialized and what we have in most moved by the VP of CODESRIA and populations benefit, (or not) and what part of Africa is not democratization but seconded by Sam Moyo. maintains their viability, as well as what de-democratization. The fourth panelist, Discussion on CODERSIA’S new research increased the fragility of their nature. Lydia Apori Nkansah noted that election agenda were chaired by Teresa Maria da Towards More Democratic Futures – is the badge for democracy. Elections in Cruz e Silva, Professor at the Eduardo Making Governance Beneficial for all Africa are tainted with flaws and Mondlane University in Maputo, Africans irregularities in Africa. Mozambique and Former President of CODESRIA. The first section of the panel Presenters The fifth panelist, Daniel Limbe from University of Dar es Salaam Tanzania discussion was marked by the report of • Surendren Pillay, University of the made her presentation on "The satirical the Scientific Committee, followed by a Western Cape, South Africa – portrayal of Africans development issues: roundtable discussion. The key points Identity, Difference, Citizenship or Examples from Kiswahili short stories" that emerged from the presentation of the Why am I no Longer a Racist She described Satire as a portrayal of Vice-Chair of the Scientific Committee, • Abubakar Momoh – The Electoral events or issues in an opposite manner. Shamil Jeppie dealt with the challenges. Institute, Nigeria – Does Democracy Jeppie mentioned that it was challenging Toward more Democratic Futures: have a Future in Africa: Comple- to get all ten members of the Scientific Making Governance beneficial for all xifying a Dualism Committee to meet all at once. Despite that, Africans • Abdallah Saaf: Universite Moham- members who were present were able to med V Maroc. La question de la Presenters: review drafts of documents, abstracts for the conference and came up with a theme reforme de l’ Etat perspective compa- • Abdessater Sahbani ; Becoming res entre l’Afrique et la region arabe. for the 14th General Assembly. Jeppie more Democratic in Africa: Demo- noted that a good number of the abstracts • Lydia Apori Nkasah – Kwame cracy faces What Challenges ? Nkrumah University (Ghana), ignored the theme. He expressed a recom- • Ahmad Amal Mohammad Emam mendation that the way forward and goal Dispute Resolution and Electoral Khashab, Re-examing Transition Justice in Africa: The Way Forward of the research agenda should be inter- Paradigm: Are Elections Enough to disciplinary. • Daniel Zawadi Limbe – University Ensure Democratization in Africa? of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) – The • Ibrahim Mouiche, La gouvernance Five panellists were invited to present Satirical Portrayal of Africans électorale et la consolidation démo- their contributions on the new research Development Issues: Examples from cratique en Afrique : défis et pers- agenda for CODESRIA, namely Dickson Kiswahili Short Stories pectives. Eyoh of the University of Toronto, Abdul CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 57

Raufu Mustapha of the University of with research together, pointing out that • History is not being taken seriously Oxford, Elisio Macamo of the University policy makers need to be brought into the at CODESRIA. Students in Sierra of Basel in Switzerland, Manthia Diawara picture before research is done. He argued Leone for example do not know of the Scientific Committee of CODESRIA that it is a very costly process and man- Amical Cabral (USA), and Shamil Jeppie of the Scientific power to do the work may be an issue as • CODESRIA needs an intellectual Committee of CODESRIA (South Africa). well. agenda. The nature and quality of The first speaker, Dickson Eyoh, focused The third speaker, Shamil Jeppie talked social science have to be situated in his presentation on knowledge and about the challenges faced with our own environment. Academicians underlying assumptions and research and publications, housing of the information, no longer exclusively do social politics. He expressed that what we are and lengthy and difficult process to science. able to know is a faction of our underlying access archives in some African countries • Proposal: Scientific Committee to assumptions. These latter make our such as Niger. He further denounced that come up with a concrete agenda knowledge of the world coherent. Eyoh our collections in Africa are exported, our • The title of this panel discussion also mentioned that people talk a lot about conversations hardly exist and are usually mention "new research agenda": the concept of development, but fail to digitized coming from the North and that what is new? There are many take into account assumptions linked to we do not have our own reports. The interesting topics and thinking that that concept: for example that the future fourth speaker, Manthia Diawara focused needs to be done. It will be good to is a social project. Eyoh further discussed on how archives can be used to position explain the novelty: Does it have to that research cannot take the place of research. He showed video clips of be the way research has to be politics, and cannot define what should Senghor and Soyinka discussing conducted, the way it will be take place in the world. He argued that conducted and who are the immigration in Africa and Europe. On one politics cannot validate research findings. stakeholders? What is the identity hand, from the excerpts, Senghor On the contrary, politics should rather be of CODESRIA? Is there any change? emphasized the need to avoid the developed by methods. That itself is the infiltration of outsiders, and that it is more • Debate on research agenda cannot first challenge that we have to face. Eyoh than a biological reason but it is a cultural be contained itself. Institutional inte- recommended that we should develop rest may be different from the and political one. Soyinka, on the other basic narratives around three main individual interest. Dialogue bet- hand, evoked the concept of "ivoirity" in themes. The first one has to do with ween policy and research is carried Ivory Coast, case of Ghana and Nigeria, citizenship and an emphasis on nation on as if CODESRIA is a political and denounced why African leaders building, expanding the scope within organization, policy-making is not an cannot recognize that the use of the word which we can expand human dignity. The academic exercise, it is a political one. migrants within Africa itself is obscene. second theme deals with institutions. The • In terms of keeping memory, we need Soyinka also talked about xenophobia as third theme has to do with actions over to link memory and oral tradition being implanted by governments. He practice, namely the gap between morality further stressed that humanity is mobile • Intellectual projects to work to- and politics. In other words, to what and that the influx of migrants to Western gether/ encourage interdisciplinary extent can we ground our political actions nations should be looked at from the work/working together across to moral principles we can identify with? perspective of restitution. disciplines The second speaker, Abdul Raufu • Thinking about language in terms of The following were the interventions from Mustapha focused on a theme that dealt non-verbal in addition to the verbal. participants regarding CODESRIA’s with Africa and its multiple vision of the What does it mean for CODESRIA, research agenda: future. In that vein, he shared that there and how do we produce it, consume are six things to advance research. First, • When thinking about the research it. How do we deal with epistemic respacing Africa includes transna- agenda, it has to fit with Africa shifts? tionalism, namely hubs, corridors and regions. Africa is looked at based on • Train scholars on how to write good networks. Mustapha argued that there is the colonial division. North Africa abstracts a need to change topographies of being for example is not considered part of • How can CODESRIA play a major and understanding topographies of where Africa. role and position itself on the conti- we are. Second, measurement issues need • What is the vision of civil society in nent where data extracted from the to be dealt with when talking about the Africa, what vision will help liberate research is housed on a continental advancement of research. Third, it is us. database? necessary to move from the concept of Adminstrative Aspects of the GA good governance to hybrid governance. • We should know and learn about Fourth, it is also critical to move from neo- other countries. Nomination and electoral panel patrimonialism to political settlement. • We should not stop at the source of report and elections Fifth, the research-policy nexus needs to information; we should look at also Chaired by Professor Issa Shivji, this be redefined. Finally, Mustapha discus- distribution of the information. We session was dominated by the report of sed area studies as the sixth component should push for private owned the regional caucuses and the election of to advance research. He noted in that libraries. the new executive committee. The presi- regard that it is important to learn from • How do we get to the parliamen- dent of the five sub-regions presented the global common. Mustapha further tarians? We have to connect policy first their reports before the results of the mentioned the issue of bringing policy and research elections within their region. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 58

The reports focused on: • For East Africa: Kenneth Simala Nkolo Foe (Cameroon) and Andre Mbata Inyani (Kenya), Khalid El Amin Mangu (Kinshaha). After the vote by • For Central Africa: re-dynamize and (Sudan) and Mshai Mwangola secret ballot and the counting of votes, improve CODESRIA’s visibility (Kenya) as substitute 71 to 23 in favour of Professor Nkolo Foe, • For East Africa: connect more • For North Africa: Hassan Remaquin he was declared the new Vice President effectively with the youth, use infor- (Algeria), Sphedrine Ben Fredj of CODESRIA. mation technology, and give greater (Tunisia and Mohammad Haggag Just after, the new President, Professor access to academia articles. Recom- (Egypt) as substitute mendation to submit an annual re- Dzodzi Tsikata, took the floor and thanked • For Southern Africa: Isabelle Casimo port to the region, and failure to do participants for their vote. She mentioned (Mozambique), Puleng Lenka Bula so will result in a vote of no confi- that the values of institutional amendmen- (South Africa, voted in abstentia dence. Another recommendation ts need further discussion and that she because of brother’s death), and deals with the implementation of will bring it back to CODESRIA’s agenda. Solofo Randriana (Madagascar) as regional chapters and projects. She also talked about the idea of electronic substitute. voting which need to be rethought again. • For North Africa: reinforce publi- • For West Africa: Rokhaya Fall She shared that there were many interes- cations and participants from North (Senegal), Dzodzi Tsikata (Ghana) Africa ting ideas and discus-sions that took place and Oder Varela (Cape Verde) as about Africa’s future, the involvement and • For South Africa: Substitute should substitute development of young scholars, and that be playing a major role. Committee All members eligible to vote were invited she will work in a team spirit to accomplish should be held accountable and the recommen-dations of the governing issues and reforms need to be to confirm the results, which was done body. She will also make sure that this followed through, and more young by acclamation. The chair asked that for new team will complete the work of the scholars and women need to be the President and Vice-president, he will last executive committee. brought to CODESRIA’s activities stop at 3 nominations for each. After voters accepted this proposal, nomi- • For West Africa: accountability of The floor was given to the Vice-President, nations began. For the position of presi- the Scientific committee, more young Nkolo Foe for his remarks. He concurred dent, two proposals were made: Professor women and scholars to take part in with the President’s message and than- Dzodzi Tsikata (Ghana) and Professor CODESRIA’s leadership and activities ked everyone for the confidence and trust Nkolo Foe (Cameroon). After the vote by reposed in him. He pledged to work for a The following were elected: secret ballot and the counting of votes, greater visibility of CODESRIA, more 71 to 25 in favour of Professor Dzodzi • For Central Africa: Nkolo Foe young scholars’ involvement and linka- Tsikata, she was declared the new (Cameroon), Andre Mbata Mangu ges with governments. He also pledged President of CODESRIA. (Kinshasa) and Joseph Gahama (…..) to strengthen relationship with the dias- as substitute For the position of the vice-President, pora who live outside of Africa and in Latin two proposals were made: Professor America.

From left: Carlos Lopes (Keynote speaker), Serigne Mbaye Thiam, Senegalese Minister of Education and Mouhamed Boun Abdallah Dionne, Prime Minister of Senegal at the Opening Ceremony of the General Assembly CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 59

Imagining and Creating the CODESRIA of Tomorrow is a Preoccupation for each one of us

Mr. Chairman, May I in the name of all of you and in the name of the outgoing EC express our Dear colleagues, Fatima Harrak gratitude to our funders and partners, As we come to the end of the 14th GA of Former President some of whom have been backing us and CODESRIA, let me thank you for what, CODESRIA valuing our work from the very beginning; together, we have been able to accomplish we are grateful for their trust and their this week. sponsorship. Driven by CODESRIA’s goals and needs, What we have accomplished goes beyond serious thinking must be given to Together we can fashion a dynamic and the charter amendments and the election integrating ICTs for the efficient resourceful CODESRIA for the twenty- of a new Executive Committee; a New management of both the administrative first century! President and Vice President. Anyone and scientific pursuits of the Council. Lastly, let me express my gratitude to the who has followed the rich discussions of outgoing Executive Committee for the the scientific conference, around the The Intellectual Agenda of friendship we have built and the excellent keynote speeches and the round tables, CODESRIA work we have been able to realize during has now seen the convening power of While this agenda is globally engaged we the past three years and half. CODESRIA on issues affecting Africa’s must be attentive that it remains locally future and also the importance of the relevant and focused around themes of Let me, in the same spirit, congratulate contribution of the human and social priority, not only to our constituency but, and welcome the incoming President, Vice science research in the imagination of this to our continent. President and Executive Committee. In the future. name of the outgoing Executive While cultivating collaboration between Committee, I extend to you our best wishes Imagining and creating the CODESRIA of scholars of Africa and those of the global for a very successful mandate. tomorrow is also a preoccupation for each south and between African researchers one of us. and their peers in the rest of the world, we May I also take up this opportunity to reiterate, in your name, our gratitude to As I mentioned in my report to this must see to it that the knowledge pro- the Government and People of Senegal venerable assembly , we are all aware of duced by this Council continues to be for their solicitude, hospitality and the current financial challenges. This context specific and geared towards multiform contribution to the success of means that we must strive for diversi- African needs as formulated by the conti- this General Assembly. fication, sustainability and independence nent’s intellectuals. of our funding and be more pro-active in It is the enthusiastic engagement of these My appreciation goes to all those, near developing an Endowment Fund. intellectuals, and the commitment of the and far, who in one way or another have made this meeting a success. We must also work for the completion of African human and social science the review process and implementation community of scholars at large, manifes- But my – and our – very special thanks of the proposed reforms of our ted in the presence of so many of you go to the Executive Secretary, our collea- organization here today (and the so many others who gue Ebrima Sall, the Senior Mana-gement could not come), that give meaning and and all the Staff of CODERIA who have We are called upon to configure a decen- value to the work of CODESRIA. Thank worked like one hand and were a major tralization scheme for our programmes and you, dear members of CODESRIA, for your cause of the success of the Assembly. activities as a way of reaching out to loyalty and unfailing engagement. young African scholars and emerging God bless you all, wa - salamu ‘alaykum. intellectuals and activating relations with our institutional members. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 60

To Talk or not to Talk to Terrorists: That is the Question of these Unhappy Times

his year’s general assembly have justified and fuelled radicalisation focused on the future of Africa and and terrorism. Ken Walibora tackled a whole range of issues T By the same token, there is room for an the continent grapples, with including efficacious religious de-radicalisation terrorism and radicalisation of the youth. process as a counterterrorism strategy. As a solution to the problem of terrorism, Prof Kane shared his recent research, The movement led by Muslim clerics and prominent political scientist, Prof which indicated that more than 98 per cent scholars in Kenya, Building Resilience Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia and of Africans considered religion the most Against Violent Extremism (BRAVE) is a Makerere Universities, recommended that important thing in their lives, with Sene- case in point, sending, as it does, the governments consider holding talks with gal taking the lead in levels of religiosity. message via the media that killing non- terror groups such as Al Shabaab, Al Prof Jibril Ibrahim of the Centre for believers is not a jihad but murder and Qaeda and Boko Haram. Democracy and Development (Nigeria) they quote the Koran. He argued that refusal to engage these stated that the rise of religion, and by But admittedly, detoxing the minds of groups in negotiations only serves to extension fundamentalism, is down to the individuals and groups convinced that further embitter and embolden them. Prof failure of the postcolonial state in Africa there is a heavenly reward for maiming Mamdani said this during a panel discus- and the commodification of religious and killing is an arduous and uncertain sion on the connection between funda- practice. process. It will require listening to what mentalism, terrorism, and radicalisation of Religion is good business in Africa, the terrorist says and what he does not youth chaired by former Kenyan Cabinet shown by the fact that Nigeria has seven say because the door has been shut on minister, Prof Anyong Nyong’o. of the 10 richest religious leaders in the him. It will require listening to the silences. Prof Ousmane Kane of Harvard under- world. However, the scholars noted that Ken Walibora is the Kiswahili quality scored the increasing importance of despite the heightened level of religiosity, manager at Nation Media Group. E-mail: religion to Africans, noting that research crime has also increased tremendously. [email protected] shows that twenty-first century Africans Religion and terrorism, to my mind have Sources: http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/ often spend more time and money on now become inextricably bound up OpEd/comment/To-talk-or-not-to-talk-to- religious activity than those of the previous together. Clearly certain interpretations terrorists/-/434750/2775208/-/item/1/-/ century. or misinterpretations of religious scripts havmjoz/-/index.html

One of the Round Table sessions at the General Assembly CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 61

Reports

Bandung+60 Conference Report

The Bandung Spirit standing of the spirit in today’s The Asia-Africa Conference held in terms: as a quest for emancipation Ebrima Sall Bandung in April 1955 was a turning for the peoples of the Global South, Executive Secretary and an aspiration for global trans- point in world history. It marked the birth CODESRIA formation towards global justice and, of the Non-Aligned Movement, and Dakar in the words of Manoranjan what has come to be known as the Mohanty (who was at the confe- ‘Bandung Spirit’; an expression of the and gender. CODESRIA was one of the rence), a Global Swaraj ; it is the determination of the peoples of the co-organising institutions, and was same spirit that led to, and has, over South to fight colonialism and all forms represented at the conference by the years been driving the World of foreign domination, as well as racial, Professor Fatima Harrak, immediate past Social Forums and struggles for gender, and other forms of inequality, President of CODESRIA, and I. Ahead of freedom and for a better world; it is and bring about sustainable, people- the conference, a selection of the also the spirit behind the creation of centered development. The 1955 conference papers were published in a organisations and networks such as conference brought together book titled Bandung at 60: New Insights CODESRIA, CLASCO, and IDEAs; representatives of 29 countries, mainly and Emerging Forces edited by Darwis • Bring Latin America and the from Asia (including Japan and China), Khoduri. CODESRIA is one of the co- Caribbean into the ‘Bandung and Africa (which had representatives publishers, and the book was launched Movement’, and explore possibilities from the following countries: Egypt – at the conference. for holding similar conferences in represented by Gamal Abdel Nasser; Latin America and Africa; The conference was held at three venues: Gold Coast/Ghana – represented by Kojo • Strengthen research and academic Botsio; Ethiopia; Liberia and Sudan), and (i) at the LIPPI (the Indonesian Research cooperation across the Global South several observer countries. Former Council) headquarters in Jakarta; (ii) in within the framework of a Bandung Yugoslavia was also represented by the same hall where the 1955 conference Studies Programme. was held in Bandung; and (iii) at Trisakti Marshal Tito, while Sukarno, the then A lot has changed in the world since the University in Jakarta. president of Indonesia, was the host. In Asian-African conference was held in April 2015, on the invitation of the The discussions were scholarly, but 1955. The Cold War is over. Colonialism Indonesian government, 119 countries sometimes took on a militant tone, partly in its crude forms has been abolished. But were represented at a commemorative because of the participation of activists there are many old and new challenges, conference held in Jakarta and Bandung. in the conference. This mix of academic many new frontiers, and many battles to In October 2015 another commemorative and activist perspectives is also reflected be fought at all levels – from the very local conference was held in Jakarta and in the framing of the declaration that was to the global. The "Bandung Spirit" must Bandung. The debates at this confe- issued at the end. therefore stay alive and well. The Bandung+60 Declaration speaks to some rence were more robust, and participants The conclusions reached and the of the contemporary challenges that the included many scholars and activists decisions taken include the following: from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This peoples of the Global South are facing conference was structured around the • The need to keep the Bandung Spirit (which include the global inequalities of following themes, reflecting dimensions alive and well, building on the rich power and the ecological challenges), and of the diversity of life: culture, ecology, heritage of the many years of calls for Asian-African-Latin American economy, politics, religion; and two struggles of the peoples of the solidarity. cross-cutting themes which are history South, while promoting an under- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 62

World Social Science Forum 2015: Transforming Global Relations for a Just World

he Council for the Development of attention to the fact that these global Social Science Research in Africa inequalities are deeply implicated in intra- Dzodzi Tsikata (CODESRIA) and the Human country inequalities. Going forward, we T President CODESRIA Sciences Research Council (HSRC) co- need to examine more closely the inter- Dakar hosted the third World Social Science linkages and relationships between global Forum (WSSF) which which took place in and in-country inequalities. This would Durban, South Africa, in September 2015. longstanding and increasingly urgent make it possible to advance both The WSSF is a global event of the concerns within the policy space and the academic and policy debates beyond International Social Science Council wider society that inequalities constitute whether to blame endogenous or (ISSC) that brings together researchers a huge threat to peace and democracy as exogenous factors for the rising and stakeholders in international social well as to sustainable development. For inequalities. science co-operation to address current CODESRIA, this reaffirms our firm belief Questions have also been raised about topical global issues and future priorities that the social sciences should be the measurement of inequalities and for international social science. The Forum proactive in producing knowledge which which indicators bring us to a better promotes innovative and cross-disci- addresses some of the most fundamental understanding of the multifaceted plinary work, cross-science collabo- problems of our times, while remaining character of inequalities, its structural rations in the natural and human sciences, rigorous autonomous and not ensnared elements and its drivers, and take us and engagement with donors and in the service of the powers that be. beyond a narrow focus on economic decision makers in the science community inequalities. A dimension of accounting worldwide.While delivering the closing The decision to hold this forum in South for inequalities is the question of whether remarks at the occasion, Dzodzi Tsikata, Africa, in the city of Durban has been we should be concerned about President of CODESRIA’s Executive inspired. It enabled researchers, policy inequalities of opportunities or Committee emphasized the need for the makers and activists from across the world inequalities of outcomes. Given that some social sciences to produce knowledge to get a feel of a country whose citizens indicators e.g. access to education and which can be used by different engaged in a sustained and inspiring access to land, are both opportunities and constituencies - policy makers, business, struggle against inequalities and outcomes, a forward looking social social movements and the general public prevailed. While the struggle for a just science would take inequalities both in to strive for a more just world. society is still not fully won, South Africa offers the example of what is possible opportunities and outcomes seriously. The closing remarks is presented when people organise to overthrow an One uncontroversial issue is the impor- here in full entrenched system of inequalities in order tance of inter-disciplinary work which Dear colleagues and fellow participants, to restore the citizenship rights and the addresses the different domains of ine- dignity of the majority. Being here has qualities and their interconnections. It After four remarkable days of excellent reminded us of the importance of social came up in different ways- from the excel- presentations, the sharing of ideas and movements in the fight for a more equal lent plenaries and parallel sessions which important debates on one of the most world. It enables us to interrogate the involved conversations among different serious challenges of our time, there is positioning and demands of different disciplines, direct calls for the inclusion not much left to say except to say thank social actors in the quest for a just society. of different disciplinary perspectives in you and to call on all of us to act. I hope All over the world, young people, future work on inequalities, and the cele- you are leaving here inspired and women’s movements, workers movements bration of the life and work of Arthur rejuvenated to re-examine your research, and a range of new social movements are Lewis, the Caribbean economist, whose policy and advocacy agendas and have leading struggles for a better world, and remarkable achievements demonstrated begun to ask new questions about the our research going forward needs to clearly the importance of taking cognisan- rising inequalities between and within account for these. ce of different disciplinary perspectives countries and regions of the world. Many questions raised by the papers and also going beyond economic issues It is gratifying that the problem of presented and the discussions that have in understanding the challenges of deve- inequalities is taking centre stage once followed at this conference are building lopment. In any case, gender and women’s again, after many decades on the side- blocks of a broad and solid research studies and feminist scholars have long lines of social science research when agenda on inequalities. For example, we demonstrated the value of inter-discipli- poverty took the centre stage and became spent several sessions discussing the nary research. Their longstanding focus a proxy for inequalities. In prioritising nature of global inequalities in the on understanding and interrogating the inequalities at this forum, this community economic, social and political domains, intersections of social relations and their of social sciences is responding to and several speakers have drawn deep understanding of power relations CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 63 and inequalities offer many insights to with others to enlarge our efforts. In this of various committees and their members- the social sciences into how best to ap- regard, our organisations such as Prof Shisana, chair of the executive and proach the study of inequalities, but also CODESRIA, the HSRC and the ISSC programme committees, Prof. Vasu Reddy, how to ensure the relevance to research should deepen their collaborations with chair of the local organising committee, of different constituencies. The social others across the globe to provide the Ms Bridgitte Prince, chair of the science community has much to learn from solidarity and the space to strengthen the scholarship committee, Profs. Adebayo paying attention to the work of this cons- social sciences. In doing this, we should Olukoshi and Jayati Ghosh, co-chairs of tituency. continue to address the inequalities and the scientific and abstract review hierarchies in knowledge production and committees, and Dr. Temba Masilela, chair Going forward, our research agendas the control of knowledge dissemination of the logistics committee. I also want to should therefore take cognisance of not within the social sciences themselves. thank the incoming head of the HSRC, only the range and complexities of the Only then can we prove equal to the task Crain Soudein, and the ISSC President and inequalities we have identified, but also of participating in the transformation of its current and former executive directors, interrogate policy efforts and activism to unequal relationships at all levels of and the entire board and secretariat, address these. As well, new developments levels- national, regional and global. particularly Heidi Hackman, Vivi Stavrou in the policy space require our attention. and Mathieu Denis. I want to The recent inclusion of inequalities as a Before I take my seat, I would like to say acknowledge the years of hard work of stand- alone goal in the SDGs, the express on behalf of CODESRIA, our these committees which came to fruition adoption of Agenda 2063, the AU’s profound gratitude to the Forum chair, in the last four days. ambitious programme of structural Professor Olive Shisana, and to the transformation and regional integration dynamic staff at HSRC who hosted us and I would also like to thank all those who are just two examples. The social sciences were responsible for execution of WSSF supported the WSSF in diverse ways, need to produce knowledge which can 2015. Together, they delivered a well- particularly SIDA, NORAD and DANIDA. be used by different constituencies- organised and innovative programme Finally I want to wish the organisers of policy makers, business, social which ensured that conversations took the next WSSF success and urge all of us movements and the general public to place between the different constituencies to continue participating actively in the strive for a more just world. who have a stake in the building of a just planning and execution of future WSSF. and prosperous world. I also would like Each of us should participate to the best to express our deep gratitude to the chairs Thank you. of our abilities and inclinations, and join CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 64

Declaration of the 3rd World Social Science Forum

16 September 2015

osted in Durban, South Africa, the World Social Science Over 1000 people from 84 countries came together in Durban, Forum 2015 took place against the backdrop of multiple South Africa to share their experiences on research undertaken Htransitions that affect global governance, resource in the areas of injustice and inequality and to analyse the impact utilisation, social relations and quality of life leading to increased of these scourges. The Forum brought together leading thinkers global inequalities. The Forum is the most significant gathering and policy makers from around the globe with the objective of of scholars and policy-oriented intellectuals drawn from all the furthering collective understandings of inequalities for the regions of the world and across different disciplinary interests purpose of addressing injustice. Participants addressed the in the social sciences and humanities. trends, magnitude, nature, causes, manifestations and drivers of inequalities and injustices. This encompassed not just issues It serves as a platform for presenting new knowledge and such as access to basic services including water, sanitation, insights, re-thinking received wisdom, charting new directions, health, education, and housing, relations among peoples, and promoting innovation in the research-policy-action nexus, and overall quality of life, but also the national and international nurturing new international partnerships. processes that generate inequality. The Forum provided a platform Issues of justice and growing inequalities at global, regional, for seeking solutions to and effective strategies for these national and local levels and their impact on the quality of life of injustices and sharing experiences among people from the populations as well as on the sustainability of resources justifies different countries. The Forum also enabled participants to the theme for the 2015 World Social Science Forum "Trans- witness local manifestations of inequality in Durban, South forming Global Relations for a Just World". The theme built Africa as well as the efforts of non-governmental and community upon critical issues that permeated debates during both the based organizations to address injustice and inequality. 2009 and 2013 editions of the Forum which focused respectively Participants learned and shared lessons that can be adapted to on the themes "One Planet – Worlds Apart" (2009) and "Social different settings. Transformations and the Digital Age" (2013) and addressed Inspired by this experience, we, the participants of the 2015 issues of power asymmetries, injustices, disparities, disjunctions World Social Science Forum held on the 13-16 of September, and the divide that pervaded contemporary global realities. 2015 in Durban, South Africa under the theme of "Transforming Organized by the International Social Science Council together Global Relations for a Just World," are concerned with the with the co-hosts – the Council for the Development of Social consequences of injustice and inequality for the quality of life Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Human for global populations as well as with the sustainability of global Sciences Research Council (HSRC) under the patronage of resources. As a result, we declare that we shall: UNESCO – the Forum shone a spotlight on the nature and (a) Pursue theoretical and empirical research including dimensions of injustice and inequality, including: development of reliable and multi-dimensional indicators on inequalities and injustices; 1. Macroeconomic policy choices and their impact; (b) Produce evidence to highlight issues requiring urgent 2. The extent and consequences of income and asset attention and action, support advocacy and inform inequalities; policies to respond to them; 3. Inequity in global governance, where the views of the (c) Support efforts to address asymmetries, disparities, di- majority of states are excluded in making major decisions vides, and lack of autonomy in knowledge production regarding global affairs in various institutions and fora; through the creation of transformative knowledge 4. Agreed international legal instruments that uphold human programs; rights are not fully implemented; (d) Participate in programs and efforts that aim to end injustice 5. The impact of inequality in terms of patterns of production and inequality; and consumption influencing the sustainability of (e) Make every effort to reduce income inequalities and pro- resources; mote equity, starting with scientific institutions where we 6. The impact of gender, race and class inequalities, as have influence; manifested in unequal access to education, health, (f) Support measurable progress to overcome inequalities, resources, employment and other social benefits; including through the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals; 7. Generational inequalities that exclude a majority of the youth and the elderly; (g) Promote policies, programs, and values that act to end gender inequality; 8. Wage inequalities and labour unrest; (h) Promote the integration of youth in work places through 9. Poverty and experiments in combating inequality; and providing them with the necessary skills to enter the 10. Lessons learned from the action of social movements, civil labour force; society, and governments, as well as policies, programs, and best practices. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 65

(i) Support efforts to achieve legally binding and universal We believe that together, bolstered by our social science agreement on avoiding dangerous anthropogenic inter- knowledge, skill and power, we will contribute to end injustice ference with the climate system; and and inequality globally, regionally and locally as well as in our (j) Promote inclusive societies based on universal values and own work and home spaces. human rights. The World Social Science Forum and the World Social Science Report advances social science research and awareness of these issues.

Sussex University Confers Honorary Degree on Professor Takyiwaa Manuh, Former President of CODESRIA’ Scientific Committee

Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh, former Chair of the CODESRIA Scientific Committee (2009-2011), had an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) conferred on her by the University of Sussex. Below is her acceptance speech:

Chancellor of the University of I became a single parent, to go, first to Sussex, Sanjeev Bhaskar, the US, and then to Colombia, on a United Nations University Fellowship. The Vice Chancellor, Professor How I wish they could be here with us Richard Farthing, today, to watch me receive this honour, Madam Mayor of Brighton and Hove, and to swell with pride! Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice Ladies and Gentlemen, in the part of the Chancellors, world where I was born, it was not at all Members of Convocation, a certainty some fifty-odd years ago when I attained school-going age that I Graduands, would actually be enrolled in school, or Parents, remain in school and progress all the way to tertiary education and beyond. It is a testament to the progress that has occurred Members of Family and friends who are here, almost everywhere now that the right of girls to an education, Distinguished Guests, skills and training, is almost uncontested and actually promoted, as we saw with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Ladies and Gentlemen, that are now ending, and reiterated in the successor and more I have been delighted and honoured to join all of you at this ambitious Sustainable Development Goals that are set to come graduation ceremony at the University of Sussex, and I am truly into place later this year. humbled by the honour done me by the university in conferring But it is not only in the area of girls’ education and women’s upon me an honorary doctor of laws degree in recognition (quote) rights that some progress has occurred, but also in the area of ‘of my contributions to the fields of law, gender and politics’. politics in Africa. There is now a general commitment to Distinguished guests, inevitably on occasions such as this, democratization and the rule of law to the extent that even one calls to mind the different individuals and groups who have autocratic governments which wish to remain in power want the contributed to one’s progress over the years- family members, veneer of democracy and try to extend their rule through teachers, mentors, colleagues and friends and one’s networks, elections, however stacked these may be. both professional and social- and to thank them for their support, And Africa has largely moved beyond ‘the basket case’ scenario encouragement and belief in one’s abilities to succeed. described by the Economist magazine some years ago. It is In particular, I would like to thank my late parents, one self- recognized that several African countries are among the fastest educated, the other unlettered, but both utterly committed to growing economies in the world. However the challenge remains educating all their many children, female and male. I recall my of translating these impressive growth rates into decent jobs mother, rebuffing her father, an educated man, who complained and skills for the teeming populations of young people, of about the seemingly never-ending levels of education that some bridging the rising inequalities, and stemming the tide of some of us daughters were entering- ‘what would marriage do for of the desperate migrations that we read about in the news them,’ she parried? I also recall my father’s pride as I left to almost every day. pursue graduate education in Tanzania, and the support my Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, all these issues parents afforded me when I left my young children behind, after and more are currently being discussed at the Third International CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 66

Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), that opened empowerment including both the agency of women themselves yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the city where I now live and their movements as well as the policy actions and resources and work. That Conference has gathered over 7,000 delegates that states need to commit, remain to be taken up, particularly in to deliberate on actions, strategies and commitments for the post-2015 agenda. financing sustainable development, protecting the environment, Finally, I turn to you, graduands of today. You are entering a and promoting social inclusion for a fairer and more just world. fast-changing and turbulent world. There are several But I am happier to be here with you all this week than in that con- uncertainties and challenges and you can take nothing for ference with the heads of state and all the important personalities! granted. But the world you are entering has also experienced Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Ladies and significant progress, including in the areas I’ve described today. Gentlemen, I cannot end my address without mentioning what So graduands, this is what I want for you: the University of Sussex has meant to me over the years. Sussex calls to mind high teas- scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam, • That today, you will use the technology available to you to and tea- fish dinners, stimulating intellectual discussions with post selfies of yourselves and your family and friends who friends and colleagues, social justice and internationalism. I recall have helped you achieve this milestone; in particular, Anne Whitehead and her many years of field work • That throughout your lives, technology can help you to in Ghana, and the work of Kate Young and her colleagues. engage with the world and build on the progress I’ve The IDS was one of the places I visited with British Council described today in women’s rights, the rule of law, and sponsorship as we were planning to establish our Women’s democracy; Studies programme at the University of Ghana in the late 1980s, • That you continue to learn and seek knowledge after you and more recently the IDS was the location for our Pathways of leave Sussex. Women’s Empowerment Research Project Consortium that • And that you take what you have learned here and what grouped colleagues from Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, you learn since to make a difference. Europe and Africa, under the leadership of Andrea Cornwall, Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Guests, I thank you that has done exciting and comparative work on so many aspects all once again for the honour bestowed on me, and I look forward of women’s lives in our respective continents. The findings to my new association and status with the University of Sussex! about the necessary and contingent conditions for women’s

Academic Freedom Still Matters! The Case of Maati Monjib and Nuno Castel-Branco

n recent months, the African scientific by the police on his person. The Moroc- community has been faced with two can authorities also prevented him from Carlos Cardoso cases of serious violation of freedom travelling abroad in order to participate in I CODESRIA of expression and academic freedom. The a scientific activity, forcing Monjib to first one involved Carlos Nuno Castel- embark on a hunger strike to press for his Branco, an economist, co-founder of the violation of his fundamental right to free- rights. These two cases are not isolated Institute of Social and Economic Studies dom of expression and raises new con- cases. Certainly there are numerous simi- (IESE) and professor at the University cerns about the issue of academic freedom lar events that have not come to the at- Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, in some parts of the African continent. tention of CODESRIA or that were not Mozambique. Professor Castel-Branco The second case concerns the travel ban made public due to limitations in the func- had to face criminal proceedings for that was imposed on Professor Maati tioning of the press iand also due to the alleged slander against the former presi- Monjib, a historian and member of CO- repressive acts of intolerant government dent of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, DESRIA’s Scientific Committee by Mo- authorities in several countries in Africa. over a message that the scholar posted roccan authorities recently. Monjib, a For instance, on 17 March 2015 in Mo- on his Facebook page on 4 November political analyst and human rights acti- rocco, an investigative journalist, Hicham 2013, entitled "Letter to President of vist, was a founding member of the 20 Mansouri, was imprisoned for 10 months Mozambique". In his letter, Castel-Branco February Movement Support Council, while working on an article on state sur- criticised some of the policies of the then which sought reform in Morocco during veillance. Ibn Rochd Center for Studies President and contended that these the Arab Spring. On 31 August 2015, on and Communication, an organi-sation policies were responsible for the his return from Montpellier (France), he which focuses on the freedom of press, multifaceted crisis in that country. was unjustly detained by the authorities of thought and of expression, democracy Although he was eventually discharged at Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca. This and cultural development, was forced to and acquitted by the court, Professor ugly episode was followed by a series of shut down by Moroccan authorities. A Castel-Branco’s arraignment was a clear provocative acts deliberately perpetrated similar organisation, Freedom Now – CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 67

Comité de protection de la liberté de la sion and academic freedom in par- Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a member of presse et d'expression au Maroc (Com- ticular. the Mozambican Association of Econo- mittee for the protection of freedom of the With the wave of democratization that mists (AMECON) and Mozambican Aca- press and of expression in Morocco) was swept through several African countries demy of Sciences. denied registration by the authorities.. in the early 90s and the improvement of Apart from being a professor and journa- These and other recent crack downs on citizen rights conditions that followed list, Maata Monjib is also a university re- individual journalists and human rights them, one would have thought that the time of persecution and the imposition of obstacles to the free exercise of freedom expression had passed. But the recent cases of violation of academic freedom, to which should be added the recent events that took place in South African universities, with students demanding for equal access to education and an end to racism in the delivery of higher education, leading to violent confrontations between students and authorities, are proof that the struggles for freedom of expression and academic freedom in particular must continue. Indeed, we may argue that there is an intrinsic connection between aca- Nuno Castel-Branco Maati Monjib demic freedom and the global emanci- patory struggles of citizens. activists show growing restrictions on searcher, human rights activist and presi- freedom of expression in Morocco. In the cases involving Castel-Branco and dent of Freedom Now. He has facilitated Monjib, we are dealing with high-level various debates between Islamists and The frequency of executions perpe- academics whose voice is likely to influen- secular activists in Morocco. He has also trated against members of the ce the critical positioning of citizens about instituted a prize for investigative journa- research community and universities the public acts and the fight for freedom lism Prize in Morocco. He is also founder on the continent, which contributes of expression in their countries. Beside and director of the Ibn Rochd Center for to the establishment of a climate of his position of an Associate Professor in Studies and Communication in Morocco. Economic Deve-lopment and Industriali- It is important to reiterate that the practice "Every African intellectual zation at the University Eduardo Mon dla- of the research profession is inseparable shall enjoy the freedom of ne, Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco is from the exercise of free and critical Research Associate, Department of De- movement within his or her thinking. The right to do research is a right velopment Studies at the School of Orien- which is recognized by fundamental law. country and freedom to tal and African Studies (SOAS), Also, the right to freely communicate travel outside and re-enter University of London and Senior Research research findings is an inalienable right Fellow at the Institute for Development the country without let, which cannot be separated from the right Policy and Managemet (IDPM), Univer- of citizens to freely express their views hindrance or harassment" sity of Manchester. His areas of interest on current topics of national interest. include economic growth policy, econo- – Kampala Declaration mic transformation and social system of In this context two articles of the Kampala capital accumulation in Mozambique and Declaration are worth mentioning. These are the article 3, which states that "no fear and restricts the development intellectual shall in any way be perse- of a conducive atmosphere for pro- cuted, harassed or intimidated for reasons ductive academic and social life is "No intellectual shall in any only of his intellectual work or opinions" worrying. These acts of repression way be persecuted, harassed stifle intellectual debate and make and the article that states that "every censorship a rule. The cases of Castel- or intimidated for reasons African intellectual shall enjoy the Branco and Monjib may especially be only of his intellectual work freedom of movement within his or her taken as paradigmatic examples of country and freedom to travel outside and what is happening in the academia or opinions" re-enter the country without let, hindrance and in African societies in general in – Kampala Declaration or harassment" (Kampala Declaration, terms of ensuring freedom of expres- CODESRIA, Dakar, 1995).

CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 69

Debates

Trends and Issues in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Africa

Keynote Lecture delivered at the National Dissertations Workshop Organised by the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) of South Africa Johannesburg, 29-30 July 2015

• Dr Sarah Motsoetsa, CEO of NIHSS with the revolution in the ICTs, and • Professor Sitas and Dear Brother the formidable advancement of Ebrima Sall internationalisation: virtual univer- • My Brother Professor Adam Habib CODESRIA, Dakar sities, off-shore campuses; public and • Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize, private institutes, centres and labo- Chairperson of SAHUDA ratories; etc. The diversification of • My Friends Profs Gillian Hart, David The SSH: Trends and Issues sites of knowledge production was Dzanton, Fred Hendricks, Jide Fifteen years ago, I wrote a working paper just overwhelming. Today, barely 15 Oloyode, Hennie Kotze, and Darlene on The Social Sciences in Africa: Trends, years after I completed the study, the Miller Issues, Capacities and Constraints that complexity of the institutional lands- • NIHSS Programme Directors was published by the New York Based cape has become much greater than Nthabiseng Motseme and Yolanda Social Science Research Council anybody could imagine at the time. Davids (SSRC). The paper was my contribution What Zeleza called the "six Cs" – cor- to an ambitious project aimed at poratisation of management, collecti- • Colleagues, "Mapping Human Capital Globally", visation of access, commercialisation I would like to begin by congratulating which was, in fact, an attempt to review of learning, commodification of know- Prof. Sitas and Dr Motsoetsa for not only the state of the social sciences around ledge, computerisation of education, having done the excellent job of leading the world through a series of studies on and connectivity of institutions – the consultations that led to the adoption Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the have reached enormous levels (Zeleza of the Charter for Humanities and Social Americas, etc. and I did the review of the 2004). Many of these changes are Sciences, but also for the establishment social sciences in Africa. global, but with a particular meaning of NIHSS, which is a direct result of the for scholarship in Africa that we need In that working paper, I looked at four sets earlier work on the Charter. to fully understand. of issues; and will look at the same issues I would also like to thank you for inviting in this presentation, because they still are ii) The second set of issues had to do CODESRIA to be a partner in the African among the key issues to consider in any with the social science disciplines: Pathways Project. This workshop is serious review of the state of the social those considered to be the core another important milestone in the sciences and humanities. The issues are disciplines of the social sciences and advancement of the social sciences and the following: humanities (sociology, political humanities in our continent, and in the science, anthropology, history, collaboration between NIHSS, i) The institutional base for knowledge economics, etc.), as well as the CODESRIA and SAHUDA. production in Africa and how it has multidisciplinary fields of study: been evolving, with different cultural studies, human rights studies, It is therefore both an honour and a generations of institutions and the conflict and peace studies, gender privilege for me to be here today, and to diversification of institutional types studies, development studies, etc. speak to this important gathering. and modes (from what were in the The modes of institutionalisation of The topic that was chosen for me is: The early sixties just a few ‘traditional’ these disciplines in the academy are State of the Social Sciences and universities that were almost all public interesting to note. The fragmentation Humanities in Africa. That is a very broad universities, and almost all contact of the disciplines and fields into sub- topic. So, I asked myself what would be universities—the main exception disciplines and sub-fields in the name the best way of speaking about the state being UNISA), to the many hundreds of specialisation is also fascinating; of the social sciences and humanities in – that are now thousands – of public under the dominant neoliberal context Africa to an audience of great scholars, and private higher education – neoliberal globalisation – the and hundreds of doctoral students who institutions (HEIs) of all shapes and development of a market logic in the are aspiring to become great scholars in kinds, many of which are engaged in social sciences (some call it the the social sciences and humanities. mixed modes of delivery, and have not "marketization of the social sciences"; only contact students, but also see Burawoy’s review of the distance learners; etc. particularly Gulbenkian Commission report CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 70

Opening the Social Sciences; African Scholars" (see Mkandawire Cabral used to say that "we need to Burawoy XXX), has both increased 1995; Mkandawire 1997). I think we think with our own heads, in the the fragmentation of the social can now talk about four or five context of our own realities". Put sciences and humanities, and brought generations. From the generations that differently, we need to look at social about changes in the ranking of the studied or did their research under reality in our own societies and in disciplines and fields of study, and conditions of colonialism, or the Cold the world around us with our own changes in the criteria for determining War, or apartheid, to the generations eyes, using our own lenses, rather even what is HE, or SSH research of of the age of the internet and of than using the conceptual and high quality, and what is not. The neoliberal globalisation, there are great theoretical frameworks or lenses we Gulbenkian Commission, set up by a differences: the historical experiences borrowed from Europe. We need to Portuguese foundation, the Calyxte are different; the worldviews are look at the world from where we are, Gulbenkian Foundation, was led by different; the issues facing the rather than trying to look at the world Immanuel Wallerstein, and had among societies in which they are evolving from where other people are. its members a linguist (Valentin are different; the ways data collection b. The challenge of autonomy has been Mudimbe, a physics Nobel laureate and research, teaching, publishing, and still is a major challenge for the (Ilya Prigogine), etc. was truly even conferencing are done have all social sciences and humanities in multidisciplinary and its task was to changed (NB we now have not only Africa (Adesina xxx; Sall and review the social sciences globally and Skype conferences, but also Ouedraogo 2012); the independence identify trends. In its report the "webinars", etc.). The MOOCS are of the mind is a pre-condition for the Commission argued that the future of another good example of the changed independence of the nation and the the social sciences is in their further ways; these changes are global, but continent. Thabo Mbeki, former opening. This was in the mid-nineties with a particular meaning for president of South Africa, in his of the last century. Ten years later, scholarship in Africa that we need to attempts to promote African Burawoy, in his review argued that fully understand. Renaissance, called for the rebuilding what actually happened was not the iv)The fourth and last set of issues I of Carthage which, he argued, was a further opening of the social sciences, looked at are the research themes that metaphor for African independence. I but their increased fragmentation as a we have been taking up, and the think we must also rebuild Timbuktu, result of their marketization: in the debates in the social sciences and the metaphor of African intellectual name of specialization, many new humanities that we have been having triumph. The parallels between fields, sub-fields and sub-disciplines in Africa. I give a few examples: Carthage and Timbuktu are interesting have emerged, thus increasing the a. Decolonizing the social sciences to note. As Mbeki reminded us, for boundaries and what I would call and humanities; i.e. the need to 150 years, every Roman emperor set ‘enclosures’ within the social transform what Mudimbe calls the himself as a primary task the conquest sciences. These days, ‘relevance’ – "colonial library" – that has not only of Carthage, in what is present day market, or policy-relevance – is often African, but also Oriental and Latin Tunisia; because Carthage was used to determine ‘quality’, and set American variants (see the Said’s flourishing and competing Rome for priorities. The major trends also Orientalism; and Dussel’s The ‘global’ prominence. In the end, one include the rise to prominence of the Invention of the Americas, of the Roman emperors succeeded in disciplines that seem to have greater published 12 years before Said’s conquering Carthage. Timbuktu, in the market value and produce more Orientalism but dealing with the very 15th and 16th centuries, i.e. several marketable skills, students and other same issues). The colonial library centuries after the fall of Carthage, also ng kinds of products, such as the STEM/ side-lined the other libraries that became a prominent centre of ot STEAM; and MODE II (Giddens) type preceded it (Kane). As was noted in scholarship that attracted scholars of knowledges, and the neglect of the a conference that CODESRIA from far and near, until it was invaded "public good" in HE and research organised with Point Sud in January by Morocco and its greatest (Singh; Sawyerr). Disciplines like 2013, the ‘colonial library’ also intellectuals like Ahmed Baba were history experienced great diffi-culties covered many more aspects of life deported to Morocco (see The – CODESRIA actually laun-ched an than texts and ways of knowing. It Meanings pf Timbuktu edited by "SOS African History" initiative to was in fact pervasive, for it shaped Jeppie and Diagne; and Kane’s Non- support the discipline. These changes African music, dances, bodily Europhone Intellectuals). are also global, but with a particular expressions, etc. The colonial library, meaning for scholarship in Africa that c. Our own identity and our history – I would argue, has also meta- the debates about ethnicity and we need to fully understand. morphosed into a larger ‘imperial’ nationhood, and those on ‘Afri-canity’ iii) The third set of issues I looked at was library that lives to this day. The involving Mafeje and others, and related to the scholars themselves, transformation of the colonial library those about "African modes of self- particularly those in the human and is therefore just a first step towards writing" (Mbembe), are good social sciences. In a paper published the transformation of the larger illustrations. So are the debates on in CODESRIA Bulletin in 1995, "imperial library", and the ethnic and national identities, and the Thandika Mkandawire, a former transformation of the global attempts to re-write our histories (as executive secretary of CODESRIA, epistemological order (Zeleza 2004). part of the decolonisation of our past. identified "Three Generations of The great African leader Amilcar CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 71

The need to re-write history was also whether they are ‘healthy’ or not are the IMF: the problems were said to be felt after the Rwandan genocide, and also of different kinds; one can use with us and with our economies. I after apartheid). There is a "General the bibliometric data, or the citation don’t think that today the Greeks History of Senegal" that is also cur- indexes, most of which are developed would agree with such views that are rently being written, following the in the North, to count the number of also expressed by social scientists, UNESCO General History of Africa. articles in what are considered to be including African social scientists. Dominant historical paradigms are the only "international peer reviewed These days, the scholars who dare to being challenged in many of these / referred journals" (a category from challenge the dominant discourses cases, using and recognising as legiti- which journals produced by scholars about the private sector or about the mate a whole range of new sources in Africa are often excluded); etc. etc. market, or about globalisation are in and methods of inquiry, and re- and come to the obvious conclusion the minority. framing dominant narratives. This that in global terms, Africa hosts very Therefore the epistemological issues and struggle over identities and for the few international journals, produces the methodological issues are as reclaiming of our pasts and futures has very little, all disciplines combined; important in the assessment of the state actually been going on for a long time, and among the disciplines, the SSH of the social sciences in Africa as they and have been central to the work of produce even less; African are to the research and writing of the almost all the great pan African intel- universities are not ranked very doctoral dissertations that you are lectuals such as Cheikh Anta Diop. highly, whether it is in the Shanghai working on or about to embark upon. Other themes and issues explored rankings or in other global rankings. These are some of the reasons that led to include the following: Our think tanks are also not ranked very highly (see the annual GOTO the creation of a pan African social i) The emancipation and independence Global Think Tank Reports published science research council called of Africa, and liberation from by the Think Tanks and Civil Society CODESRIA, so as to promote social apartheid Program of the University of science research and research based publishing in Africa. ii) The transformation and development Pennsylvania). Within Africa, the real of African economies and societies ‘scientific countries’ are South Africa, CODESRIA is also interested in followed by Nigeria, Egypt, and iii) Crises and structural adjustment developing an African indexation system. Kenya. There is certainly great value The reasons are the same as those that iv)Politics and Governance in Africa, and in these rankings and citation indexes. made CODESRIA engage in publishing the challenges of building inclusive, But the stories they tell are very journals, including a journal of social democratic and developmental states partial. They also tend to mirror the science methodology (with Ouedraogo and governance systems on our inequalities of power at the global level and Hendricks as editors), and an Africa continent (see WSSR 2010, on "Knowledge Review of Books, an African Sociological v) Regional integration Divides"). Review (Jide and Fred present here have vi) Environmental change iii) More important: the exercise itself, i.e. been lead editors of that review), etc. determining the state of the social vii) The Health challenges – maternal and That is also why CODESRIA is investing sciences and humanities, whether it infant mortality; HIV/AIDs, malaria; in the nurturing of new generations of today we also talk about EVD (Ebola) is in Africa or elsewhere, is not a neutral or value free exercise. For scholars and collaborating with NIHSS viii) Education, and HE instance, African scholars have in a great project like the African path- ix) Youth and youth cultures demonstrated through our research ways Project. x) Gender that SAP was very problematic and Therefore, what I would do in what is left xi) Globalisation; the BRICS; etc. was not likely to lead to the positive of the time allocated to me is to review transformation of African economies, And so forth and so on. The list is long some of the major trends and issues in societies or politics, and came up with the social sciences and humanities in Colleagues, and friends, I can take each serious criticisms of the Structural today’s Africa, with particular reference one of these sets of issues and demons- adjustment policies imposed by the to the CODESRIA experience. trate that most of the trends I observed Bretton Woods institutions (WB and 15 years ago are still unfolding. If any- IMF) on the world 20 years before As we speak, CODESRIA itself is engaged thing, they have become more complex, former senior officials of the Bank in two processes: but they still exist. came round to admitting that there i) a comprehensive internal review that were problems with SAP. Africans The points I want to make are the includes a review of its intellectual continued debating SAP and its following: agenda and effects long after SAP had ceased to ii) preparations for a meeting to review i) The factors that have a role in be seen by scholars else-where as an and plan for the further advancement determining the state of the social important subject of scholarly of the CODESRIA African Humanities sciences and humanities in Africa are debates. As a matter of fact, for many Programme to be held in Accra on 28- many and varied. mainstream economists and political 29 August. ii) The criteria for assessing the social scientists, there was nothing wrong sciences and humanities to determine with the Bank’s policies or those of CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 72

CODESRIA and Where the Social major problem in Asian scholarship, as colleagues for whom we have enormous Sciences Seem to be Going indigenous and endogenous intellectual respect, obviously do not consider A good way of getting to know where the production is still largely overlooked as futures studies as a field in which the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in scholars tend to give pre-eminence to social sciences should venture. Western scholars and scholarship (Ala- Africa are is to look at Africa’s problems Yet prospective or futures studies is a tas 2015). and the problems of today’s world and whole field of study that is well recognised see how the SSH are addressing them. Indeed, as the mechanisms of domination as a legitimate field of study that is now The SSH are concerned with society and reproduce themselves and metamorphose well – institutionalised in universities in social relations. The major challenges into new forms, so do the concepts and Europe and North America. But that is a facing our societies, our continent, and theories that inform them. The question is very under-developed field in Africa whe- our world at each given moment therefore whether we in Africa in particular, and in re the African Futures Institute of UNISA tend to become the subjects of research the global South, have been keeping up is among the very few such institutes in and debates in the SSH. Colonialism, with the evolution of not only the forms Africa (Al Ahram Strategic Studies Cen- decolonisation, nation/state building, pan and mechanisms of foreign domination, tre also has a focus on futures). Africanism; apartheid, post-apartheid but also other forms of domination within In this year’s edition of the annual transformation, development, democra- our own societies, and whether we have CODESRIA Governance Institute that tisation; climate change, globalisation, been able to interrogate the concepts and began in Dakar two days ago, the director, conflict, what Wole Soyinka calls the ‘new theories that we use to produce know- Abdallah Cisse, who is a lawyer by imperialisms’ (Soyinka 2009), or the ledge. My good brother Professor Vusi training and has been dean of the law "liberated zones and spaces" (Micere Gumede put it nicely in one of his faculty of Gaston Berger University for Mugo); or the ITCs revolution, and so interventions at a recent conference he many years, is working hard to introduce forth and so on. co-hosted at UNISA: "have we been able participants to prospective analysis. The One major complicating factor is the fact to look at our societies and the world around us from where we are and not from theme is "Cybersecurity, Sovereignty, and that the world and the societies we live in Governance in Africa". His argument is are unequal, and those inequalities have where other people are"? (Gumede 2015 – paraphrasing Cabral’s famous quote: We that in matters related to cybersecurity, found their way into the world of the books and journal articles on those knowledge production itself. The social must "think with our own heads, in the context of our own realities". issues are often outdated by the time they and global divides are mirrored by are published, because the changes are knowledge divides. The power relations I go back to the first question I asked: extremely rapid. More fundamentally, he at the global and country levels tend to how have the SSH been addressing the argued, a society that is not capable of shape and be shaped by knowledges of problems of Africa and the world of today? imagining a future for itself is a society various kinds, produced in different I think it no longer is a question of whether that has no future. Or at best it will have locations. Euro-American domination of or not we are, in Africa, researching the its future determined for it by others. And Africa and other regions of the world goes issues that are high on the national, we have many people and institutions hand – in – hand with the dominant regional and global policy agendas, such that may or may not be well – meaning position that the Euro-American academy as poverty, inequality, global warming, who are offering us ‘advice’ about how to occupies in the global intellectual regional integration, post-apartheid understand China’s role in Africa, how to community. Put differently, the global transformation etc. Because there is a lot manage our economies etc. epistemological order tends to mirror the of work being done on all those issues. global order. The transformation of the The time of politics, as Aminata Diaw epistemological order is therefore seen by There are, however, a few exceptions; a Cisse, a colleague of mine often argues, is many as an integral part, if not a pre- couple of issues that we are yet to take up not the present but the future, because it condition for the transformation of the as fully as we ought to be doing, such as is about anticipating what could happen, global order. the study of representations of the future and planning where that is possible. Part in our continent (e.g. the whole debate of the problem we have in Africa is that It is therefore not by mere chance that the about the African Union’s Agenda 2063). managing emergencies seem to occupy theme chosen for the third World Social At the 14th General Assembly of the best part of the time of our policy Science Forum in Durban (to be jointly CODESRIA – and the scientific conference makers. Souleymane Bachir Diagne has hosted by HSRC, CODESRIA and the of the CODESRIA General Assembly is a, also argued that a prospective approach ISSC, in September 2015) is: "Transfor- good barometer for getting a sense of and what he calls a "political culture of ming Global Relations for a Just World". where the SSH are in Africa, particularly time" are indispensable for development The SSH in Africa have been and still are with regard to issues related to the theme (see Diagne 2005; Diagne 2013 Diagne engaged in that battle, a battle that was at of the conference – some of the most 2014; and Diagne 2015). Diagne is a first aimed at decolonising the SSH and highly respected scholars of this con- philosopher who has been a member of transforming what Mudimbe calls the co- tinent argued that the business of social the EC of CODESRIA for six years, after lonial library, that is similar to the battle science is not to engage in what one of which he became the chair of the scientific against what Edward Said called ‘orienta- them called ‘star-gazing’; i.e. trying to committee for five years, part of which time lism’ – and we know from a recent article predict what the future holds. The best Archie Mafeje was a member of the same by Farid Alatas of the National Universi- thing we could do, it was further argued, Scientific Committee. ty of Singapore that orientalism is still a is to "historicize the present". Now, these CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 73

It is however important to note that there Therefore if, with a few exceptions, we But we must also interrogate the counter- is a major difference between the Social now are researching and debating almost narratives and the alternative narratives, sciences and the humanities when it all issues, the key question then really is including the seemingly progressive, or comes to discourses on, and repre- that of the extent to which our work is even revolutionary ones among them. sentations of the future. Just one driven by conceptual frameworks that To conclude, I would like to say that social illustration: in the early nineties, Ama Ata speak to African concerns and to African science, dear colleagues, is facing Aidoo, a great writer from Ghana, wrote a agency (the concepts of ‘afrocentricity’ challenges everywhere in the world. The story titled "She-Who-Would-Be-King" , and of ‘epistemologies of the South’ are World Social Science Reports of 2010 and that is about a ten-year old girl who said to be examined in respect to these 2013 bring this out very clearly. But the she would like to be the president of her concerns). Also important is the extent to challenges we face in Africa appear to be country when she grows old, but was told which our scholarship speaks to the class particularly daunting, for three reasons: that the men won’t allow that. 50 years and equity issues. later, her daughter was elected the first The notion of epistemologies of the South i) We are at the receiving end of the president of the newly formed Confe- raises the issue of the transformative global power relations, including the deration of African States – sort of nature of our scholarship, particularly in power relations in the scholarly realization of Nkrumah’s United States of the social sciences and humanities. What community and in the larger Africa. This is in 2026. The men, who were we have called "Command science" (la knowledge production world where amazed, said the president of the whole science du commandement; Sall and big institutions established to of Africa cannot a president, it must be a Ouedraogo 2012), should not be allowed promote or sustain the global order king. And because it is a woman who has to completely side-line the science that also, pose as serious "knowledge been elected president of Africa, then she problematizes conventional wisdom or institutions" that ‘only disseminate, must be a "She-King" (see Adam et al.). echoes and amplifies the voices or the but also get their production and Kofi Anyidoho argues in an article on voiceless. views adopted. This has a direct Ghanaian literature and pan Africanism bearing on what goes for ‘good’ social that Ama Ata Aidoo is among many other Furthermore, it has now become extremely science or humanities research and writers discussing the future. difficult to differentiate agency literature production, and what gets side-lined. from academic literature, both because the The social sciences in Africa are therefore ii) We still have a long way to go in our big agencies (development banks and far behind the humanities in that regard. efforts to look at the world from where organizations, etc) are producing so much we are, given the great influence that Another area where the SSH in Africa are and effectively disseminating their external factors still play in our also not really engaged is area studies in production and pushing hard for the scholarship (Mudimbe; Zeleza). Africa; i.e. in the study of other regions – adoption of their perspectives on issues, not "African studies", but the study of but also because they employ scholars iii) Very few of our policy makers are really other regions of the world from where we to write many of their reports. convinced that the SSH are of vital are in Africa: there are extremely few importance, and that it is important to All this underscores the significance of research centers and institutes in Africa provide adequate resources for them. consultations that led to the adoption of that specialize in the study of other regions The fascination for the STEM is just the Charter for the Humanities and Social of the world. We therefore are not too high. In Senegal, a national Sciences, and the creation of the NIHSS producing knowledge on or about the dialogue on the future of HE in the that brought us here today. trade and other partners and competitors country, led by a great African of Africa. At a conference on China-Africa It is in that regard also that we, in the philosopher, one of our greatest, relations that CODESRIA in 2011 in SSH, must continue to interrogate the recommended to the government to Nairobi, one colleague presented a review dominant narratives about Africa: the prioritise the STEM as the best way of 900 more or less recent publications on negative and the seemingly positive of ensuring that Senegal becomes an China-Africa relations and the review narratives; right up and including the emerging power in 25 or so years. One showed that only 7 per cent of the publi- narratives about the BRCIS; ‘Africa reason for doing that, it was argued, cations were produced in Africa! This awakening’; Africa resurgence (Zeleza’s is the fact that student enrolments in means that the bulk of the knowledge latest book); and ‘economic emergence’ the SSH are far bigger than enrolments informing policies on China-Africa in Africa (18 countries have plans for in the STEM. But also because the relations are produced outside of Africa. economic emergence); and the Africa We STEM are seen as the key to solutions The situation is changing, but very Want that the AU is now at the fore front to unemployment, and under- slowly, as more Chinese studies centers of, with its Agenda 2063, and the narrative development. Yet even in the USA, a and programmes are being established, framed in terms of the World We Want (title report of the American Academy of and Asian studies in Africa are beginning of the Rio +20 Outcome document). Social Sciences and Humanities titled The Heart of the Matter released in to get organised (there will be an Asian There are many efforts to reclaim our Studies in Africa conference in Accra in 2013 argued very strongly that if the history, and our future, and part of that US wants to preserve its dominant role September 2015). However, until today, necessarily involves efforts to reframe the we have almost serious no French studies, in world affairs it must invest in the narratives about Africa or frame counter humanities and social sciences. British studies, European studies, Ame- or new narratives. rican studies, or Latin American and Carib- There are, however, great opportunities bean studies centers in Africa (Sall 2013). as well. As noted in WSSR 2013 on global CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 74 environmental change, we live in a new This makes the case for multi-disci- Remember, research in the SSH is not so age: the age of the Anthropocene, one in plinarity, inter-disciplinarity, and trans- much about inventing formulae for which the human factor is more disciplinarity even more important. resolving this, or that problem—which determining than ever. Which means that does not mean that we should not try to The SSH, the WSSR 2013 concludes, must the social sciences and humanities are find answers and solutions to our therefore be bolder, and better. more relevant than ever, and that relevance perennial problems of development etc. – is now more and more acknowledged. If That is a conclusion that we must take for it is, as Mahmood Mamdani rightly climate change was provoked by human ourselves in Africa. As you work on your argued, about asking the good questions, beings more than anything else, then doctoral dissertations, you must say to i.e. about how we think! obviously human beings must be at the yourselves that the ground-breaking And that is what made all the great source of the solutions to it. This points theories will come from you. After all, that scholars great. to the importance of the SSH. is what every PhD thesis should be about: bringing something new from a theoretical I thank you for your attention, and I wish In reality, the humanities are entering into or other point of view. Theory building is you well! new areas and fields, which has led to the where we are probably weakest, but it is construction of new sub-fields of study where we must make great advances, and Reference such as the ‘medical humanities’ and ‘di- you have opportunities for making gital humanities’. The range of discipli- Zeleza, P.T., 2002, "African Universities and important theoretical contributions. nes represented here is a good illustration Globalisation" http://agi.ac.za/sites/agi.ac.za/ of the expansion of the fields covered by files/fa_1_feature_article_3.pdf the SSH.

Black Pain Matters: Down with Rhodes

his is a brief but detailed account including having to graduate in a hall of the Rhodes Must Fall student named after the imperialist, Leander Tcampaign that unleashed the Francis B. Nyamnjoh Jameson, over twenty years into a clamour for transformation in higher University of Cape Town democratisation process that should education, which has rocked universities already have proven itself by darkening across South Africa since April 2015. It is some of the landscape with images and an excerpt of a much longer account titled: individual among the protesters [who] representations (of ideas and ideals, "Sir Cecil John Rhodes: The threw excrement at the statue of Cecil heroes and heroines – dead or alive, makwerekwere with a Missionary Zeal." John Rhodes."She concluded her individual or collective) that black The excerpted sections are: (a) Black Pain statement with the reiteration: "UCT students could relate to.5 The students Matters: Down with Rhodes; (b) Not endorses freedom of expression. We had had enough of repeated claims that Every Black is Black Enough; and (c) UCT encourage open debate, as all universities transformation cannot happen overnight, Fires on All Cylinders. should do, and urge our students and as if the institution were some sort of staff to participate in discussions that science fiction where a night is longer Black Pain Matters: Down with contribute to responsible action."3 than twenty-one years. Maxwele was that Rhodes The "individual" who threw a bucket of "individual" who refused to be treated The Demand for Rhodes’ statue to be human excrement at Cecil John Rhodes’ simply as an individual. A black South moved or removed from the University of statue was not quite acting as an African politics student at UCT who was Cape Town campus may have taken many individual. Apart from that some students no stranger to protests, Maxwele, by surprise, but the statue’s incon- reportedly followed his example by regarded as a most inconvenient youth venience as a blot on the intellectual throwing urine and pig manure at the in many a conservative circle, saw himself landscape of UCT had been noted and statue, while others covered it with a white as a spokesperson for an intellectually and expressed in the past, since the years of cloth, "as if to hide the imperial stain,"4 emotionally wounded black community of the Archie Mafeje Affair, even if its removal Chumani Maxwele, the "individual" students, and by extension the rest of was never formally requested before. The referred to by the acting VC, saw himself black South Africans who were yet to feel RMF protest started on Monday, 9 March as acting on behalf of a group of students and feed on the purported fruits of 2015 on the Upper Campus of UCT1, while who saw themselves as products of a liberation. Whether or not the anger and the VC, Dr Max Price, was away in Dakar, history and a sociology of collective frustration and demand for which he Senegal, attending the African Higher debasement, violation and victimisation served as vehicle was "the result of an Education Summit.2 In her capacity as the by outsiders who came claiming the status inculcated sense of entitlement born of 6 acting VC, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) of superior beings and bearers of superior expectation," Maxwele and his fellow Sandra Klopper issued a statement con- values. He argued that black students student protesters were determined to firming the protest action. She condemned would not want to study in a university make their long silence heard. As Kuseni in the strongest terms as "unacceptable" suffocating with relics of colonial plunder, Dlamini captures it, the "protests reflect and "reprehensible" the actions of "An South Africa’s unfinished business," CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 75 reminding South Africans of "the burden that "emotionally ties us to who we think South African moment that demands of our history that could not be wished we are, where we’ve come from, and what a radically new way of thinking if we away with the ushering in of the new we represent."9 In his repeated are to escape a repeat of the likes of constitution which guarantees everyone interventions on the apparently Marikana.14 freedom and equality," and "tell us that disgusting gesture, Maxwele reiterated According to Martin Hall –who was with fundamental freedoms without inclusion that pouring excrement on the statue the Department of Archaeology when and benefit from the economy and society honouring Sir Cecil John Rhodes, the Mamdani was at UCT and who responded are insufficient to guarantee all citizens a British colonial mining magnate and in defence of the institution to one of feeling of belonging and empowerment"7. segregationist who died 113 years ago Mamdani’s critiques of UCT turning Maxwele was acting on behalf of the black was intended as a metaphor "to explain African Studies into a new home for Bantu majority described by Greg Nicolson as our collective black pain," and express Education (Hall 1998) –, "Mr Maxwele’s still having a most raw deal over 20 years "our collective disgust"10 at the resilience protest has electrified longstanding into the new South Africa when he writes of colonial education and symbols and resentments about the ways in which the that statues such as Rhodes and Paul institutional racism at UCT and the past is remembered and celebrated. [….] Kruger are only "a symbol of all that country at large. He had acted for those Wearing a brightly coloured safety helmet remains to be done, of real transformation": perplexed by the fact that, more than and two placards – "Exhibit White twenty years after the alleged end of Arrogance UCT" and "Exhibit Black We still operate on the unequal and apartheid, so little transformation had Assimilation UCT" – Mr Maxwele emptied bigoted socio-economic conditions taken place in a university that claimed his bucket in front of the press, who had generally talked about in the past post-apartheid credentials and loved to been tipped off to attend." Quoting tense. In schools, universities and portray itself as Africa’s premier Nelson Mandela, Hall observes that it is workplaces black people still face university11. Indeed, the situation had hardly surprising, that South African hurdles that white people don’t and remained the same12 – some would say it many whites refuse to adjust their museums and national monuments should perceptions of race to put them- had worsened – since Mahmood be seen as alien spaces when they have selves on an equal footing. Despite Mamdani’s experience of the institution’s excluded and marginalised most of South hundreds of years of oppression (1996–1999) lack of an Africa-focused Africans. It was Mandela’s hope that against blacks, whites often see intelligentsia and hostility to Africa- democracy would afford South Africans affirmative action initia-tives as an focused thought (Mamdani 1998a&b), "the opportunity to ensure that our injustice, even though the large captured in the following words: institutions reflect history in a way that majority of black people still face respects the heritage of all our citizens"15. systemic challenges just trying to At the University of Cape Town, I If one insists that Maxwele was an indi- work towards a sustainable and witnessed a university adminis- vidual in his action, he was no ordinary dignified life. tration that paid lip service to ‘transformation’ but was so terrified individual. His individuality had been Over 20 years into democracy, after of losing control of the process of crushed by a history of repressive hundreds of years of brutality, things change that it came to see any inno- encounters with the violence of domi- haven’t changed fast enough. The vative idea as a threat to its position nance which Rhodes and UCT had come [African National Congress] ANC and power (Mamdani 2007: xiii). could have done better, clearly, but to incarnate. The violence of colonialism spaces described as the avenues to Siona O’Connell, a lecturer at the and apartheid had denied him the luxury opportunity, universities and pro- Michaelis School of Fine Art at UCT, of fulfilling his ambitions as an indi- fessional workplaces, remain white, expects management to take transfor- vidual. He belonged to that amorphous, exclusive, often only tole-rating a mation beyond "renaming campus roads homogenous and voiceless darkness rainbow-nation-trickle of blacks who and commissioning memorials of slave whose purportedly primitive savagery face extra hurdles. If they fail, their burial sites on UCT property."13 Writing offered a perfect license for others to performance reflects a race. If they in September 2014, O’Connell argues that penetrate and enlighten their circum- succeed, well, what an exception! as a campus at odds with itself, UCT is: stance with the benevolence of civilised [….] savagery. Such ambitions of dominance […] trying to make sense of a did not allow him or any other black man While almost everyone seems to multicoloured landscape with a want change, they want it without or woman to aspire to be an individual – dogged determination using the at least, not on their own terms. How then fuss, without shaking the status quo. tools, frames and languages of the could he be anything but a collective? If They want to open a conversation past. It is a university that has been the term individual had to be applied in (maybe an inquiry?) within the home to many messy affairs of parti- his regard at all costs, he was more of a current system while their symbols cularly darker shades, including the of being remain untouched. But that Mafeje affair of 1968, the Mamdani composite individual, whose agency, leads to stasis, as it has, with the affair of 1998 and the Centre for whatever it was, could not rise and shine idea of transformation dropped into African Studies affair of 2011. One because others insisted he did not 8 white noise. can’t help but see a pattern that deserve the status of a human being even, Maxwele and his fellow protesters draws attention to the inability of regardless of what he thought of himself recognised the importance of symbols as this university to transform itself as or what he looked like. Whatever he was "vessels of identity and knowledge of the an institution that values all its or wasn’t, is or isn’t, is aptly captured by collective and its power," and as a thing various publics in a contemporary CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 76 the title of Bloke Modisane’s book: Blame Vodacom advert, Nightshift. This is how mes un-started business of transforma- Me on History (Modisane1986 [1963]). Achille Mbembe understands the current tion beyond symbols. Jonathan Jansen, urgency and impatience in clamours for VC of the University of the Free State re- It is thus hardly surprising that Maxwele’s decolonisation by the RMF and related cognised this when he acknowledged in views were shared by a "collective of movements, spearheaded by the eruption a newspaper column that the protests are students and staff working to purge the of rights-claiming and rights-denying about a deeper transformation of univer- oppressive remnants of apartheid in wounded bodies, piling up, swearing and sities – including the complexion of the pursuit of a truly African university."16 cursing, speaking with excrements and in professoriate – that remains largely un- Reference to collective black pain and allegories and analogies, asking to be changed, twenty-one years after the al- collective disgust was not to deny heard. Thus to Mbembe, what we are leged end of apartheid.20 Singling out the individual agency and diversity among hearing from the protesting students "is English speaking universities, Jansen ela- black South Africans. Rather, it was that there have not been enough borates: intended as a strategic essentialism (in meaningful, decisive, radical change, not the struggle for equality, restitution or only in terms of the life chances of the "The three English universities in reparation) in the same spirit that black poor, but – and this is the novelty – upheaval – Rhodes, UCT and Wits essentialisms were strategically deployed – struggle with second-order chal- in terms of the future prospects of the in the colonial and apartheid pasts by the lenges of transformation. Having black middle class." The students are imperial and settler white minority as a enabled access to black students impatient that, over twenty years into the technology of exploitation, over the years – also not without a so-called free and new dispensation, dispossession, debasement and struggle, despite their liberal South Africans are yet to disrupt "enough domination. In many regards, for black pretences – the students now rightly the structures that maintain and South Africans to recognise their own demand greater recognition through reproduce ‘white power and pain, is to have come of age. Under who teaches them, what is taught, supremacy’," and that ensure that the apartheid, survival depended precisely on how the past is remembered (sym- majority mostly black South Africans not dwelling on such pain that fed the bols such as statues, for example) continue to be "trapped in a ‘bad life’ that repressive machinery of the violent regime and how they are made to feel keeps wearing them out and down." They (institutional culture) at universities and those it benefitted. In the following are revolting against the terms of where they still roam around campus passage, Modisane gives us insight into engagement dictated to them, terms that like visitors. This is the heart of how many a black South African coped have only compounded their predicament. transformation, and these universi- with such mass produced and zealously The students are screaming in no ties are only now beginning to realise disseminated pain under apartheid: uncertain terms their dissatisfaction with what anger simmered below the epidermis of the superficial polit- I have no use for human feelings, I the lacklustre manner in which those in eness of English culture, and boiled stripped myself of them that day I charge have gone about the business of over with #RhodesMustFall."21 looked upon the battered remains of transforming a skewed, racialized South the man who was my father; I Africa into an inclusive, egalitarian Adam Habib, VC of University of pushed down the pain, forced it country.18 To Mbembe, the anger and Witwatersrand agrees: down, refused to cry and never cried impatience of South African youth should The Rhodes statue was simply a trigger since; every pain, every hurt, every be read as an accusation that those point for a broader unhappiness about insult I pushed down and held down charged with transformation: race, racism, and marginalisation at the like vomit; I have graduated bloody well, I cannot feel anything, I have […] have not radically overturned University. The universities, particularly no emotional responses, I am the particular sets of interests that the historically white ones, have been incapable of being humiliated, I have are produced and reproduced immersed in a bubble. They assumed that long ceased to experience the through white privilege in institu- their intellectual atmosphere and their sensation of feeling a hurt. I am a tions of public and private life – in middle class constituencies protected corpse. (Modisane 1986 [1963]: 77) law firms, in financial institutions them from a social explosion around race. For blacks to actually own up to pain on such as banking and insurance, in But this was not to be because there is bodies as monuments of centuries of advertising and industry, in terms of legitimacy to the criticisms of the students. torture17 the way Maxwele speaks about land redistribution, in media, univer- How can there not be when there are sities, languages and culture in can only be explained by the likelihood universities 20 years after our democracy general. that they must have invested much hope that still have more than two thirds of their and aspiration in the declaration that ‘Whiteness,’ ‘white power,’ ‘white students white? How can there not be apartheid had come to an end and that its supremacy,’ ‘white monopoly capi- unhappiness when there are universities victims could now dream about tal’ is firmly back on the political and that are organised around racialised cultural agenda and to be white in reactivating their humanity. To feel pain federal principles, which when an South Africa now is to face a new- is to have hope, and to believe that human incoming vice-chancellor tries to change, old kind of trial although with new he becomes subject to attack by external agency can result in creative innovations. judges – the so-called ‘born-free’.19 Yet, if such hope is repeatedly frustrated right wing organisations including even as freedom is celebrated, one is Sir Cecil John Rhodes’ statue was attac- AfriForum and Solidarity? How can these entitled to pinch oneself every now and ked as a symbol of "Eurocentric, narrow- students not feel offended when even in again with the question: "Are you free or minded racism," and as a way of drawing the more liberal and historically English are you dumb?" in the manner of the attention to the unfinished and someti- speaking universities like UCT and Wits, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 77 the curriculum is not sufficiently reflective being human no matter what your cult for writing that challenges colonial of our history or speaks to our historical class, race or gender. thinking and models to be tolerated and circumstances.22 By importing the unfettered faeces made visible. This predicament was reite- rated by 15 RMF students when the Jo- In an open letter on the website of UCT of the poor collective, who live with dismally inadequate sanitation, into hannesburg Workshop in Theory and posted 19 March 2015, several students the deodorised spaces of those who Criticism housed by the Institute for So- wrote that removing the statue would are able to flush their own faeces cial and Economic Research (WISER) at "end the unreflective public glorification away in toilets, they are successfully the University of Witwatersrand made the of Rhodes at the expense of the legitimate exposing the extreme and dehu- pages of its Salon available to them32. feelings of those the statue offends on a manising cruelty of a capitalist Gamedze and Gamedze titled their intro- daily basis."23 Gillian Schutte24 criticises system which privileges some and duction to Volume 9 of the publication the tendency by the privileged class to 26 entirely deprivileges others. "Salon for What?" and in it argue that "to react with "shock and outrage," "decry Xolela Mangcu, an Associate Professor be a radical African intellectual is to chal- the animalistic behaviour of the filthy- in the Department of Sociology at UCT, lenge, on fundamentally personal, insti- bodied, filthy-mouthed, uneducated has been at the forefront of the call for tutional and societal levels," the "form of poor," and criminalise the desperation of the injection of a significant number of alienation that colonial education encou- the protesting black majority, instead of black South African academics into UCT rages," and that it is somehow ironic for opening up to understand and address and other universities in post-apartheid the RMF students to have to resort to a the very conditions of hardship and South Africa27. At the University Assem- publication named "Salon" to express inequality that have caused the protests, bly to discuss the Rhodes Statue and themselves. That notwithstanding, it is however outrageous. It is all too common, Transformation at UCT he told the VC: important that they are able to write what she argues, for the elite of this privileged "Max, I find it racially offensive that whe- they want to write, the way they want: class to "use elitist theory to delegitimise never the issue of black professors co- the intellectual premise for black protest mes up and you are asked about it, the We write to assert our humanity as in supercilious articles brimming with issue of standards must come in."28 Nhla- Black people, and to assert that, white supremacy masquerading as po29 and many others have subsequently while the imagination that stems academic thought." She labels as "top- from this unrecognised, in-between based their arguments on statistics pro- down" and "infantile" reactions that seek condition is indeed flashy, exciting, vided by Mangcu. At UCT where by 2013 "to criminalise black struggle and to ‘avant-garde’(in its un-investigated- there were only 48 black South African silence black rage," and condemns the deft ness) our humanity is at its root. […] academics out of a total of 1,405 – that is insistence by the privileged class on their we [must] continue to write, and 3 percent, and not a single black South own meanings and values when black while we must navigate the inevi- African woman full professor –, black stu- people, suffocated by excessive table ‘Salon’ of western knowledge dents and staff are expected to bear insti- repression resort to poo protests. 25 On structures, we are aware that we are tutional racism with a stiff upper lip, and the use of human faeces by historically writing in ways that these knowledge to be subservient to the call of an intel- 33 repressed blacks to make their point to structures have not prescribed. lectual tradition and logic of practice stee- the economically and politically powerful, We just have a feeling that there is ped in colonial symbolism and the Gillian Schutte writes: something about writing that allows celebration of primitive savagery as an us to subvert the structures that At a time in our history where the essence of being black and African. In a have oppressed us and continue to collective is brutally suppressed and black country where only 4 per cent – 194 out do so, and while this space of writing anger is presented on mainstream media of 4000 – of the professors by 20 July is contested, we are armed to enter 30 as the ultimate violence, the marginalised 2014 were black South Africans , it is this contest in ways that cannot and masses find new and inventive ways to hardly surprising that "One hundred and do not occur to our oppressors. We make their grievances heard. fifty years of Black intellectual thought write different, and so we feel that remains outside the social theory curri- writing is important. It is important If this means spewing the human culum in South Africa."31 Mimicry and to write ourselves, to write our own waste which they are forced to live hypocrisy are central to the game of kee- story. We know that many, who are in into the sanitised public spaces ping up appearances in order to be remo- not us, have BEEN writing about us of the well-heeled, then we should tely visible as a black member of staff or and have painted us in many applaud their bravery and inven- different ways, of which none are tiveness. as a black student. White privilege and arrogance reward with token inclusion creative nor imaginative enough. We In a neo-colonial world order where those who are able to discipline their true are here to represent ourselves and democracy and human rights for the feelings and embrace what they are fed share our thoughts on our situation rich means ‘shoot to kill’ for the poor, without question. As Amina Mama, for- and on what we are up against. We are thinking about how we might it stands to reason that protest mer Head of the Africa Gender Institute at create something new: how we might becomes a desperate cry for the re- UCT, argued during a meeting with the cognition of the collective and pursue writing in a way that repre- "RMF writing and education sub-commit- individual humanity of the sents and humanises us as energetic tees," given that most vehicles for scho- disenfranchised. and hurt bodies.34 larly communication in South Africa and Transformation can only happen, Shose Like it or not, defecation is the most globally continue to be owned and con- Kessi argues, if black academics and visceral and inevitable aspect of trolled by whites, it becomes very diffi- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 78 students can unapologetically fore- coconuts can be seen as ‘non- multiple pains blacks succeeded in ground black pain as a legitimate concern: white’. At worst, they’re ‘Uncle freezing under apartheid, post-apartheid Toms’ or ‘agents of whiteness’. South Africa seems to have mitigated little The idea of logical reasoned I’ve chosen to appropriate the term more than the pain of political disen- argument outside of affect is and self-identify as a coconut franchisement. It has reawakened material nonsensical and serves to legitimise because I believe it offers an oppor- desires and aspirations that had been the idea that intellectual projects and tunity for refusal. It’s an act of proble- numbed à la Bloke Modisane who is cited academic freedom exist outside of matising myself – and others – within above describing numbing as a survival historical structural analyses. It the landscape of South Africa as strategy in the days when freedom was serves as a smokescreen that part of the black middle class that is an extravagant illusion. Little wonder that invisibilises whiteness or white supposed to be the buffer against the language of black pain now feelings. I cannot count the number more ‘radical elements’. proliferates, especially among those who of times I have been in classrooms, meetings, and committees where the Instead of becoming the trusted feel they have invested effort enough at feelings of white students and staff mediators between black and white, schooling themselves in the values dominate the space in suffocating we are now turning to conceptions enshrined by the whiteness that has ways that exclude and silence – of blackness and mobilising anger dominated them body, mind and soul for under the guise of ‘logical reasoned at the very concept of the rainbow so long. What use is it to be termed middle argument’. The burden of black nation. The fantasy of a colour-blind, class in post-apartheid South Africa only academics in these spaces is often post-racial South Africa has been to be differentiated as "black" in that one of appeasing and negotiation projected onto us coconuts, but our middle-classness because one, however for fear of being dismissed and lived experiences are far from free of corrupt in one’s capacity to accumulate 36 labelled as irrational, at best, or, at racism. in a hurry, can hardly measure up to the worst, for fear of the white backlash Regardless of the blackness one targets, traditional middle class (white remains that typically spirals out of control. global or local, national or pan-African, firmly white) because of decades (if not Black pain and anger is pathologised to quibble about the reference to black centuries) of accumulation and the and condemned whereas white pain is to want to erase a history in which passing down of wealth through suc- people’s anger is cajoled, under- blacks were defined and confined through cessive generations of the family? And 35 stood, and considered rational. particular encounters as a collectivity and how can a black South African born post According to Panashe Chigumadzi, the not simply as individuals by their colo- 1994 celebrate the generic category of a founder and editor of Vanguard Magazine, nisers armed with ambitions of dominance born-free when he or she cannot freely being what is generally referred to in that were sometimes veiled or disguised compete with their white counterpart South Africa as a coconut is no reason by claims of mission civilisatrice and because of persistent material and struc- 39 for one to be blind to, ignore or dismiss continue to be rationalised by the nebu- tural inequalities? According to a survey the reality of racism. Drawing on her lousness of claims to modernisation, of born-frees con-ducted in the course of personal experience, she explains: development and globalisation. However the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, many loud the silence of some in their apathy born-frees declared they were likely to At the age of six I had already begun to black pain may be, to proclaim this in resort to violent protests because of the the dance that many black people in public is to deny that universalisms, if not persistence of inequalities in the country. South Africa know too well, with our arbitrarily imposed, are always negotiated names just one of the many important According to the report, "unemploy- sites of struggle as we manoeuvre and navigated through the encounters of ment rates are higher among younger in spaces that do not truly accom- particularisms. Common denominators people‚ women and Africans." On modate our blackness. I had already come not from hiding the personal but the expanded defi-nition of unem- taken my first steps on the road to from taking personal experiences to the ployment‚ the rate among African becoming a fully-fledged coconut, emotive public distilleries of contextually males aged 15 to 24 years is 67% that particular category of ‘born free’ relevant forms of rationality. In the case compared with 75% of African black youth hailed as torchbearers of South Africa, to quibble about black females. for Nelson Mandela’s ‘rainbow pain is also to force black South Africans Violent protests in SA have almost nation’ after the fall of apartheid; the to live a post-apartheid lie that the playing doubled in the last three years and it same category of black youth that field has been levelled and race and the is suspected that the economically are now part of the forefront of new benefits it accords and denies are no disenfranchised youth may play a student movements calling for longer important, even as no concerted huge part in it. statues of coloniser Cecil John effort has been made, in real terms, to right Born frees are also receiving poor Rhodes to fall, and for the deco- past wrongs.37 quality education, said the report, lonisation of the post-apartheid with literacy and numeracy scores socio-economic order. As a numerical majority, black South in Grade 3 in this group barely above We all know what a coconut is, don’t Africans are miffed by their incapacity to 50%. This has a major ripple effect 38 we? It’s a person who is ‘black on assert themselves in the age of freedom . later on as only 51% of matric the outside’ but ‘white on the They are impatient and flabbergasted that candidates pass their final school- inside’. This term came into popular whiteness continues to be such a power- leaving exam. South African usage in apartheid’s ful force and to impose its vocabulary of The report found that "people aged dying days as black children entered provocation and victimhood on blacks 14 to 25 years old account for 29% formerly white schools. At best, despite political independence. Of the of the country’s prison population." CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 79

To speak of collective black pain and purportedly aimed at bringing about racial – an impediment to real transformation. It collective black disgust is to demonstrate transformation are yet to yield tangible was neither here nor there that some of that one is not duped by hollow claims of outputs and to have a meaningful impact. the students protesting had benefited a common humanity and equality for all UCT has not only failed to transform, it from funding by the Rhodes estate, or that and sundry in a world structured by and has achieved little in opening itself up to the university was built upon land that around interconnecting global and local represent black South African aspirations was bequeathed to it in Rhodes’ will. They hierarchies informed by considerations or in any significant way. Chikane describes were sick and tired of the arrogance of categories such as race, place, class, as "weak" the VC’s repeated defence that amakwerekwere like Rhodes who had culture, gender and generation. the university cannot attract quality black turned the bona fide sons and daughters Bearing this in mind, one can understand South African academics because it of South Africa and earlier generations of how and why Rhodes’ statue along with cannot afford to offer competitive salaries migrants into beggars and strangers in an untransformed UCT was seen by the to entice young black graduates to their own land. Instead of opening up to protesting students as a chilling reminder continue studying. The university is the idea of a truly inclusive and reconciled of a history steeped in blood and ruthless seriously in need of the injection of black post-apartheid South Africa in the spirit indifference to the humanity of black academics and African perspectives to of the "rainbow nation" propagated by South Africans. To Maxwele, his disabuse itself of the reputation among the Truth and Reconciliation Commis- generation of black South African students of "being a European university sion, the white establishment, in the students is ready to succeed where its stuck at the bottom of Africa." The estimation of the protesting black parents failed in tackling white power and "systemic" and "subliminal" form of students, had clung to their privileges in privilege until satisfactory concessions institutionalised racism at UCT is, in his a business as usual sort of way, while 41 are made. If a letter addressed to the estimation, worse than that in any other paying lip service to transformation . The Chairperson of UCT Council, Archbishop university in South Africa. Chikane outcome has been, as Trevor Noah puts Njongonkulu Ndungane, by another elaborates: it in one of his comedy sketches: "We [in 40 South Africa] used to be the ‘rainbow student Rekgotsofetse ‘Kgotsi’ Chikane , It is the form of racism that makes who describes himself as "A student who nation’; now the colours are going their you ignorant about your subju- own way"42. wants transformation he can see," is gation because you are never anything to go by, Maxwele’s dramatic challenged to seriously engage on Anthony Butler43 believes that by "poo" intervention was meant as shock critical matters. It’s the form of racism "speaking out frankly about the treatment for an institution that has that allows those who enter UCT shortcomings of UCT’s transformation systematically resisted transformation. from a position of privilege to never strategy," black students were demon- The letter begins with a series of what the have to question their privilege. The strating "why they are better placed than author terms plaguing questions, privilege of being able to walk past a their lecturers to understand their own amongst which are the following: statue of Saartjie Baartman in the experiences of being black." They were library and have no idea that simply also offering their fellow undergraduate Why must it be that a student at the placing her on display, with no University of Cape Town (UCT) is white students the opportunity to justification, is an insult to her legacy introspect and contemplate on their often pushed to the point of having to and painfully offensive to many taken for granted privileges. Not just their throw faecal matter over the statue students. of Cecil John Rhodes in order to "affluent suburban backgrounds, well- have a conversation about transfor- Like his fellow students, Chikane was resourced schools, and the societal mation at UCT? How is it that we are totally frustrated with the excesses of the dominance of their home languages," but now at this point? conquering amakwerekwere represented also, and perhaps more importantly, the: by Cecil John Rhodes, a statue of whom Chikane is frustrated by: was implanted in mocking imperial […] less obvious aspects of their […] the fact that there is no plan for defiance high on the campus of the advantage: an expectation that when real transformation on campus. university, enjoying a magnificent view they underperform it will not be Transformation that I can see. of the city and contemplating outer space. attributed to their race; a capacity to Honest transformation. Transfor- By smearing Rhodes’ statue with succeed that is not attributed by mation that means something. excrement and covering it with garbage others to affirmative action; a happy expectation that potential employers Chikane is worried by the "disconcerting" bags and signs of protest, the students were screaming their revulsion with the will assume they are competent silence of the chair of UCT Council, a because of their skin colour; and an callous indifference that university black South African like himself and a man ease in negotiating the legacies of authorities had repeatedly displayed vis- of God, over the "institutionalised racism" colonialism and white domination.44 that continues to stand in the way of à-vis their plight in an institution in which The protest spread as more and more stu- transformation at UCT. To the author they felt like perfect strangers or dents joined, and politicians, the media neither the VC nor the UCT Senate can be amakwerekwere. The statue of Rhodes, (both conventional and social) became trusted to lead the process of "meaningful erected to celebrate an oppressor and part of the fray. In a statement issued by transformation" in the institution. To him, imperialist who was able to buy his way Gwede Mantashe, ANC Secretary Gene- the discussion around the transformation into prominence with land and wealth he ral, the ANC National Executive Commit- of curricula and race relations "is largely acquired through dispossession of their tee (NEC) "unequivocally" expressed ignored or recklessly diluted by those in forefathers and foremothers, was a support for the protesting "students in decision-making positions." Policies symbol of oppression and white privilege CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 80 their determined demands for transforma- dreams and aspirations of the new South found themselves being made to feel that tion at universities across the country." Africa.48 Anglican Archbishop Thabo they were weeping more than the owner NEC declared: "We appreciate that sta- Makgoba of Cape Town was of the opi- of the corpse. For those of them who tues are mere symbols of our racist histo- nion that: "The campaign against sym- sought to become more involved, they ry and believe that the transformation bols of the injustice of our past, along were made to understand that their role needed must be concerned with entren- with service delivery protests and public was strictly limited to one of solidarity ching fundamental and far-reaching struc- outrage over corruption, reflect the anger and support in a struggle that was clearly tural, systematic and cultural change; of South Africans at the inequalities that black. In other words, they questioned or reflective of the aspirations and realities continue to plague us." He called on all were made to question, how it is possible of our democratic and non-racial order." and sundry to "harness the energy being for a makwerekwere in the image of Twenty years into democracy have made poured into protest into rigorous self-exa- Rhodes – a white, born-free or not, local transformation a non-negotiable matter of mination and action to expand the cur- or foreign – to seek to convince anyone urgency.45 Higher Education and Training rent campaigns into a creative, that he or she could feel the pain of the Minister Blade Nzimande, for example, society-wide drive for real transforma- oppressed black other, or claim to be in vowed to turn 2015 into a year in which tion."49 the same boat? To some black students, he would "uncompromisingly" push for whites who joined the protest were merely The demonstrators mounted a "Rhodes the transformation of the country’s uni- keeping up appearances, making as if Must Fall" campaign on Facebook and versities, adding: "There remains an ur- Cecil Rhodes and his excesses were all related social media, along with a Twitter gent need to radically change the that is to blame for the predicaments of account: #RhodesMustFall.50 The demographics of our professoriate; trans- black South Africans and black Africans "Rhodes Must Fall" Facebook page – form the curriculums and research agen- on campus in general. Did they really think which described itself as "a collective das; cultivate greater awareness of Africa; that all that was needed was to name and student, staff and worker movement eliminate racism, sexism and all other forms shame Sir Cecil John Rhodes (as an mobilising for direct action against the of unjust discrimination; improve acade- individual as if he had lived his life entirely institutional racism of UCT"51 attracted mic success rates and expand student as an island with neither ancestry, kin, sympathy posts from far and wide support."46 Speaking in her capacity as progeny or relationships with others) – including from student movements in shadow Minister of Higher Education for the white makwerekwere who debased, universities across the world.52 It must be the Democratic Alliance, as well as former humiliated and undermined Africans with added though, as some of the students at DVC for University of Witwatersrand, impunity so as to appropriate their the University Assembly made evident Belinda Bozzoli admits that South Africa resources? If Rhodes, however iconic, from some of the derogatory posts they still has a long way to go in eradicating was the only problem, why did his read out – posts referring to blacks as racism, and that "Proper reconciliation excesses and material superabundance or monkeys, pigs, primitive savages and hasn’t been truly achieved yet." To her, wealth appear to have trickled down morons because "you can take them out "Reconciliatory ideas vanished from po- through the ranks and generations, as if of the bush but you can’t take the bush litics with Nelson Mandela’s death," and flowing in the blood of his white brethren out of them" – and filled with a catalogue the purported lack of no money for new to contaminate even the post-apartheid of other negativities –, that not all the academic posts in South Africa would generation of so-called born-frees? Why Facebook posts were supportive53. make it difficult for universities to open did his legacy of a highly concentrated Transformation became the catchword, up any time soon to the inclusion of more monopolistic economy persist? Why is catchall and catchon about the unfinished black South African academic staff.47 the economy still firmly under white business of recalibration of the hierarchies Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, spokesperson for the control? Could the fact – as evidenced of humanity that had informed relations, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called by the "Fees Must Fall" and "End privilege and poverty in apartheid South for the reconstruction of public monu- Outsourcing" student protests which Africa. In this way, the Rhodes statue was ments in non-oppressive ways, adding subsequently rocked universities merely an entry point for a series of that the party would continue to "agita- countrywide54 – be blamed entirely on the demands seeking recognition and te" and provide "ideological perspective" incompetence and corruption of the new representation for those who felt hard on the removal of colonial and apartheid ANC mostly black elite in power as some done by the privileges of the white era statues and monuments. Inspired by have tended to insinuate? amakwerekwere that presided over their the RMF protest, a statue of Paul Kruger destinies, diminishing the self-esteem and was allegedly defaced by members of the Not Every Black is Black Enough sense of identity of especially black EFF in Tshwane, and a memorial statue in students and academics who felt they It is commonplace to be caught between Uitenhage Market Square in the Eastern deserved better especially within a new and betwixt any and everywhere in the Cape was reportedly set alight by mem- and purportedly free South Africa. It is world, especially in South Africa where it bers of the EFF. The student protests had thus significant that many white students is all too easy to be crushed by the giant given the party’s campaign to remove initially drawn to the protest persuaded compressors of the regressive logic of colonial and apartheid statues and mo- by the general outcry in favour of mental ever diminishing circles of inclusion (Fe- numents added impetus. It was only logi- decolonisation and transformation of bruary 1991; Adhikari 2005). Colonialism cal, Ndlozi argued, that with the end of curricula and relations within the and apartheid functioned best through apartheid, public spaces configured in the institution, and the removal of the stature hierarchies of humanity and their multi- image of the repressive forces of the apar- of Rhodes as a symbolic gesture, soon plicities of agentive possibilities. It was theid era be reconfigured to reflect the the best form of divide and rule. Post- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 81 apartheid South Africa and South Afri- full professor at UCT. Not one, in cess by counting as "equity candidates" cans are in no hurry to give up on catego- 2013! That statistic is unacceptable for recruitment "international scholars, ries that have served them so well. So, it in an inclusive democratic society. who just happen to be black." At the risk is hardly surprising that in the current cla- Of the 174 South Africans who are of unsettling a number of his fellow aca- mour for decolonisation epitomised by full professors at the university, there demics, Buhlungu subscribes to "three RMF, some attitudes and declarations lea- are only five black South Africans categories of academics: white South Afri- ve one in little doubt that not every black (2.8%), six coloured males (3.4%) and can academics, black South African aca- is black enough, both among nationals two coloured females (1%). There demics and international scholars," and and foreigners. Just as there is a hierar- are 10 Indian male full professors calls for "balance across the categories." chy of whiteness, so too is there a hierar- (5.7%) and only one Indian woman In other words, he recognises the chy of blackness. Neighbouring (0.5%). In short, Steve Biko’s Blacks amakwerekwere within (white South Afri- Botswana, which went through similar — blacks, coloureds and Indians — cans, who happen to be mostly those debates on citizenship, belonging, rights constituted just about 12% of the playing "tricks" and being hypocritical full professors at UCT who were and entitlements in the late 1990s and ear- about transformation and to whom one South African in 2013. As Biko ly 2000s captures in a most fascinating black equals another, South African or pointed out, the fate of coloureds, way the complexities and intricacies of Indians and Africans in South Africa not) and the obvious amakwerekwere in belonging and attitudes towards citi- will always be interconnected on the their varying degradations (non-South zenship and foreigners which South Afri- margins. Yes, you guessed it right, African whites and non-South African ca is currently experiencing, and from 85% are white South Africans (148 blacks – those who are recruited to the which South Africans can draw vital les- out of 174). The parallels with the detriment of meaningful equity and re- sons for a future of inclusion (Nyamnjoh Land Act of 1913 could not be more dress and whose recruitment is often jus- 2002, 2006). striking. tified/rationalised with arguments to the effect that South African universities need In the current RMF and transformation In my faculty at UCT, the humanities, to be competitive internationally).57 debates, by insisting frequently that the where you would expect pioneering statue was only a symbol or a metaphor research about our future, there are This begs a few questions about "deco- for the wider lack of transformation at only two black South Africans who lonisation," the label that has found trac- UCT, the protesting students echoed and are full professors. There was a 100% tion with the current RMF campaign. increase with the appointment of a were echoed by academic staff with When does decolonisation entail Africa- new dean of the humanities to bring similar concerns about the predominantly nisation?58 And when does it mean South- us to a whopping two out of 47 full white reality of the institution despite the Africanisation only, without the professors in the humanities. And they allegedly post-apartheid landscape of the are in one department, sociology.55 whiteness? When does decolonisation as country. Mangcu wrote several pieces Africanisation enter into a meaningful featured by the national media, Put differently, Mangcu was complaining conversation with decolonisation as whi- complaining of the snail pace of that UCT was dominated by amakwe- teless-South-Africanisation? Above all, transformation at UCT, an institution rekwere of yesteryears (whites, coloured, when do decolonisation as whiteless- where Whites dominate teaching Indians) – some of whom with divided South-Africanisation and Africanisation positions and there are too few black loyalties by virtue of carrying more than enter into worthy epistemological conver- South African academics at professorial one passport – and that even 20 years sations with decolonisation as a univer- level. He pointedly insisted that it was into the so-called liberation of the country sal aspiration à la Frantz Fanon and à la scandalous for UCT to have too few black from the yoke of apartheid, those claimi- Steve Biko (as neither South Africa nor South African academics, especially at ng the status of bona fide black native African can claim monopoly over victimi- professorial ranks, and yet claim to be a sons and daughters of the land were yet sation by colonisation and apartheid as a South African university. It was even more to feel genuinely integrated into an insti- racialized technology of subjugation and scandalous that out of a total of 1,405 tution that was supposedly theirs. Ins- domination) that may or may not coinci- academics at UCT, there was not a single tead, the university authorities resorted de with being African or with being South black female professor of South African to filling the place up with amakwerekwe- African, both in the general, generous re of another kind, blacks from north of nationality amongst them. Mangcu makes and inclusive or exclusionary, parochial the Limpopo, as if every black was black a distinction between black South and autochthonous sense of these iden- enough in the South African context. This Africans, Coloureds and Indians, as do tities? This teething problem of decoloni- is a nuance which was aptly pointed out fellow South African academics and the sation is a replay of the debate in the 1960s by Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, Dean of State as well. Here is an excerpt from one in the rest of Africa, the time most coun- the Humanities Faculty at UCT (who, in of his articles on the matter: tries gained a semblance of independen- recognition for his demonstrated lea- ce59, even if South Africa’s predicament dership on drawing attention to the unfi- First, by 2013, the number of black is that decolonisation is happening at the nished business of transformation, has South African academic staff at UCT same time as accelerated globalization, was 48 out of a total of 1 405 — that earned the reputation of champion of which in a way complicates the situation is, 3%. This was an increase from 46 transformation56) when he denounced as remarkably, through the mass production in 2009. That is a net gain of two "most dishonest, most hypocritical and of black migrants by the collapsing eco- black people over five years. And cynical" the common practice by univer- nomies of many African states. But even listen to this: there is not a single sities in South Africa to "cop-out" from in the 1960s, as Fanon notes in The Wret- black South African woman who is a expectations of redress, equity and ac- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 82 ched of the Earth, narrow nationalism was Black anger is nothing but an expression Being black or white is not all that there is already inciting nationals to violence of collective black psyche as informed by to the transformation debate, which is against foreigners while calling for oppor- the lived traumatic experiences of blacks also, and often more importantly, about tunities to be confined to citizens (Fanon for centuries of racial assault by white rights and entitlements as nationals and 1967: 125-6). When is decolonisation more supremacists61. Such divide and rule citizens of a specific nation-state. In such than simply opening out to engage with practices as described by Murphy, if truly localised autochthonous struggle for African and South African issues, intended, ought to be condemned without social visibility, resources and power, the knowledge and epistemology? What mitigation. It is equally in the interest of new generation of amakwerekwere who reason is there to quibble about making those invested in decolonisation as both are black, often powerless and knowledge production focused on South a local and global pursuit to understand dispensable, and who hail from Africa Africa and Africa the central concern of a and circumvent the game of divide and north of the Limpopo, matter very little university that purports to be South Afri- rule championed by an ideological pre- whatever the magnitude of their own can and African, and therefore to imply disposition to a world of interconnecting frustrations with the deeply colonial that it thinks, teaches and relates to the local and global hierarchies informed by nature of the university institutions that world from that vantage point of being factors or considerations such as race, have hired them, or where they are South African and African? What man- ethnicity, place, class, gender and students. They are caught between and ner of transformation is sufficiently ac- generation. betwixt forces that often know little com-modating of the complexities and compromise. Seen in these terms, While some non-South African blacks nuances of being African or South Afri- amakwerekwere such as Kessi, their may be perceived to be co-opted to serve can in a nimble-footed world where eve- commitment to genuine transformation the interests of white supremacists, a ryone is a potential makwerekwere, notwithstanding, could easily find prioritisation of transformation as redress powerful or not, and where autochthony themselves in awkward situations (not and equity for South African blacks exclu- makes sense only in terms of how ready dissimilar to those in which so-called born- sively, however justified contextually, one is able to include history beyond that free white students have found themselves disenfranchises or delegitimizes any which is convenient for one and the inte- when they have come out to show compelling claims to black pain that non- rests one is defending for the moment?60 solidarity with their protesting black South African black academics may have colleagues) where they are perceived and In a Facebook post reacting to an article at UCT as an institution dominated by related to as if they were perfect strangers by Achille Mbembe on the "State of South the privileged interests and taken-for- at a funeral weeping more than the owner African Politics," Mojalefa Murphy – "a granted pers-pectives in tune with the of the corpse, or as fighting fights in South African born Nuclear Physicist" habitus of being white in South Africa. which they have no stakes. Paradoxically, and "skilled generalist and activist" – Such exclusionary or selective indicators it seems to matter little what non-South echoes Buhlungu’s sentiments. He argues of blackness and black pain give the African blacks think or feel, as they are that to keep postponing redressing past impression that black pain at UCT is open to caricature either way in the game injustices and providing for equal experienced by degree and that however of narrow nationalism that South African citizenship with black South Africans, much solidarity non-South African blacks blacks find themselves compelled to play, university authorities in South Africa who bring to the struggle, their black pain is systematically stifled as they have been remain predominantly white, prefer to always susceptible, a priori, to being by the callous indifference of whites and reach out to and co-opt black African defined and related to as inferior – the whiteness. academics from the rest of the continent pain of black amakwerekwere or out- such as Mbembe to provide token black siders within – to the pain of black South Kessi, a black African makwerekwere presence on campuses in order to give Africans who overtly or covertly consider senior lecturer at UCT, is keen to highlight the impression of racial reconfiguration themselves as authentic sons or an all-black predicament in the institution. in the name of transformation. Murphy daughters of the native soil, those who She presents herself as belonging to "the may be right that it is no secret that foreign really should have been in charge, had Black Academic Caucus" at UCT – "a black Africans "are generally preferred for not the white amakwerekwere of yester- group of over 80 black academics employment in white managed South years epitomised by Rhodes, conquered representing all faculties […] engaging in African outfits both in the public and and tamed them with violence and institution-wide conversations and private sector," possibly to foster the superior technology, injecting and actions to address the exclusion of black white supremacists’ agenda of "exploiting implanting themselves and their progeny experiences and scholarship in the area the economy corruptly to feather nests as a more or less permanent blot on the of curriculum, research, staff recruitment abroad." In reward for their support, native landscape. and development, and institutional African academics in "white institutions culture" –, identifies with the struggle to Seen thus, the following critical reaction of higher learning" are known to "sail the extent that it is inclusive of all blacks, to Mbembe’s piece alluded to above by through with ease" while many black and expresses what to her are all-black Shose Kessi – a black senior lecturer of South African academics are "overlooked concerns. To her, black scholarship, Tanzanian nationality in the department for promotion to senior and professorial whether by black South Africans or by of psychology at UCT – would need positions." It is wrong, he concludes, for amakwerekwere from beyond the qualification and nuance, to reflect the whites and their black conformists in Limpopo and in the diaspora, should ever diminishing circles of inclusion even South Africa to "interpret the justifiable prioritise the needs and aspirations of when race is a common denominator. anger at whiteness as hatred for whites." blacks. It should be scholarship that takes CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 83 into account the social and historical LGBTQ experiences and intellectual Council (SRC), Ramabina Mahapa, said: contexts of blacks, and in the particular excellence. As an academic insti- "I understand it is part of history, but the case of South Africa and the continent, tution that is forging and inspiring institutional representation of black "the material, symbolic and structural the minds of future generations, people at this university is negative." conditions brought about by colonisation challenging these dynamics is From here, the RMF movement escalated and apartheid." Important in such fundamental to creating a society rapidly, culminating in a march and the scholarship are "the affective and bodily that fosters inclusivity, dialogue, and occupation of the university’s 63 experiences" of black scholars and black wellbeing. administration building, Bremner. VC Max people. It is a scholarship that seeks to The fact of blackness as an attribute of Price responded with university-wide "dismantle the racist masculinist culture being a particular type of human, debates and a special meeting of the of our institution (city, country and ascribed, achieved or imposed, is not the university senate to consider proposals. continent) and […] whiteness and monopoly of any particular African Upfront, he said that he and his executive patriarchy in the lived experiences of black country, nor of the continent, calls for a favoured removing the statue, but only staff and students." It is a scholarship conceptualisation and articulation of the university council could take the final that challenges a tendency in "rational" decolonisation of knowledge production decision. An emergency meeting of the talk to portray black people as always the and consumption that is carefully council was called for 25 April. Mean- "problem" – either as helpless passive nuanced to provide for the complex while, the stand-off rapidly became a victims or as people whose sense of intersections of race, ethnicity, geogra- national issue. Students at Rhodes judgement is eternally clouded by too phy, class, gender and generation. Even University in Grahamstown went on much emotion. To Kessi, it is precisely at our most legitimately aggrieved, we protest in sympathy, and higher education such emotion that is needed to understand cannot afford to resort to the zero sum minister Blade Nzimande gave his support the thingification, undermining, and games of dominance of the oppressors, for moving the statue67. experiences of exclusion of black bodies as this would only compound our The extended debate considered various in the institution. Such emotions awaken subservience and predicaments. options. One was to leave the statue consciousness of how the past invades standing where it was but include a plaque the present and how to move forward. Far UCT Fires on All Cylinders at its base acknowledging the "injustices from closing off dialogue, Kessi argues As the Rhodes Must Fall protest grew in of colonial conquest enacted under that expressing "black pain" can be intensity and stature, the university Rhodes’ watch." In addition, the option instructive on the workings of authorities went to work, firing on all to leave Rhodes where he was would have "oppressive power […] and the intricate cylinders, or just about, in an attempt to to be "accompanied by another artwork levels and dimensions at which it concoct a solution.64 The VC and his to be located alongside Rhodes, to ‘speak operates." To her, "Engaging with black senior administrators also admitted that back’ by way of alternative values and pain develops a new level of conscious- UCT had tended to test the waters instead convictions." To the VC, it was the very ness where the affective experiences of of confronting transformation head on. A strategic location of Rhodes’ statue at the exclusion are at the root of how critical few quotes by senior management and focal point of the university that had reasoned argument can emerge and lead spokespersons at different points of the attracted connotations of being a to decolonising and transformative protest illustrate this assessment. Gerda "founder, hero, patron, role model and practices."62 Kessi illustrates her point Kruger, in her capacity as spokeswoman (an) embodiment of UCT’s heritage." 68 thus: for the university affirms: "[UCT] has Hence his personal opinion that the acknowledged that we have been slow to statue should be moved: When black students protest at address certain facets of transformation, being silenced in classroom debates, such as curriculum reform […] we are "I just think it should not be there – at being taught with materials that committed to listening, discussing, it should be moved. This will not exclude or devalue their bodies and debating and finding answers"65. compromise our ability to record and cultures, at having to live through Management "held meetings with debate the role Rhodes played in the the rape culture of our residences, students and set up white boards around city’s and continent’s history. And these painful experiences inform the the statue, wrapped in black plastic, where it will not change our acknow- learning, teaching, and cultural students could write down their ledgment that UCT acquired its site practices that need to change. When opinions." In a circular UCT’s first from the Rhodes estate, and the black staff protest at being denied response to these calls for action was to positive contribution it has made to promotion, at being rejected by 69 convene a discussion about "Heritage, our institution and its students" . ethics committees, or at being Despite his conviction that there was "a depicted as incompetent simply Signage and Symbolism" led by DVC, 66 significant view that the statue should be because of their race or so-called Professor Crain Soudien . But before this ‘black accents,’ these experiences could convene there had been further moved," the VC opted for an extended inform the teaching, research, and protests centred on the Rhodes statue, consultation because "there has never governance practices that need to then swathed and taped in black rubbish been any formal consultation or organised change. In fact, all of these bags. By the time these first negotiations discussion on this matter, and it would experiences tell us of the ways in with the university administration were not be appropriate for the UCT executive, which the dominant white male convened, the student representative or council, to make such a culture at UCT is perpetuated at the council position had hardened. The recommendation without undertaking expense of black, women, and president of the Student Representative such a discussion"70. Adekeye Adebajo, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 84 executive director of the Centre for National Heritage Resources Act.76 The The protests spread to other formerly Conflict Resolution at UCT, was among Chair of UCT Council, Archbishop white universities such as University of those who criticised the university for Njongonkulu Ndungane asked for Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Rhodes being rather officious in its response to accelerated and acceptable roadmap of University in Grahamstown, Stellenbosch the protest, "with a questioning of the transformation. He credited the students University, and the University of KwaZulu methods of some of the students; an in particular for the historic removal of Natal. But reverberations have also been insistence on the need to follow Rhodes’ statue: felt at universities such as North West, "procedures" for "peaceful and safe" Tshwane and the Western Cape.79 In all protests; encouraging "open debate and What sparked this was a cry from of these institutions, as Tasneem Essop, responsible action"; and threatening to the students. That transformation a Masters student in Political Studies and needs to be consolidated. Cecil John take legal steps against any "unlawful the Secretary-General of the 2013 SRC at Rhodes, for the sins of his past, as behaviour"71 The VC responded to University of Witwatersrand, puts it, black an imperialist and a racist […] stands Adebajo, accusing him of distortion of African students were in "rage against in contrast to the values that this his views on Rhodes: university enhances. And so the forms of institutional racism that students have been told to live with." The Adebajo succeeds in completely Management of this university got into a process of consulting various students were protesting and taking to distorting the view I hold on Rhodes. social media to challenge "the silencing First, he fails to mention that I, structures of the university, of black students" in colonial institutions personally, have repeatedly stated including Senate, and terminating in that no longer had a place in post-colonial that I regard Rhodes as a villain, the our meeting last night when Council and post-apartheid South Africa. As perpetrator of ruthless exploitation voted unanimously as recognition of indigenous people, land of what the students are saying and Essop argues, in all of these universities expropriation, illegal wars and a demonstration of our commitment the protests spoke to "a much broader 77 vicious conquest. to transformation. failure in higher education since 1994 and a much deeper problem of exclusion" for Second he fails to remind readers On Thursday, 9 April, 2015, at 5.37 pm, black South Africans. She maintains that that I, as well as the entire senior the contentious "statue of Cecil John leadership group of the university, Rhodes was lifted a short distance by a the increased number of black students have publicly expressed our view huge crane from its pride of place. […] and black staff on campus does not matter that the Rhodes statue must be pelted with whatever members of the much if institutional racism and inequality moved.72 gathered crowd could get their hands on, are not tackled at a structural level. "Having been a student leader at Wits The VC defended his decision to consult as it was lowered onto its waiting University, I know all too well the extensively despite his personal transport," while "Some onlookers stood consistently frustrating pace of trans- conclusion that the statue should be in silence, a few took selfies and some 78 formation at our institution. Wits, like moved, by reiterating the following: "UCT sang and danced." As the statue was most other former white universities, has is an argumentative university. This is an driven off, the SRC vice-president of a deep-seated, institutional and systemic abiding strength: it shows our enga- external affairs Zizipho Pae said moving it form of racism that is swept under the gement with the issues of our times and was paving the way for the "real work" of carpet." It is quite possible, she argues, our interest in ideas that matter. transforming UCT to begin. Other for the majority of students in a Undoubtedly the students are leading a students waving banners that read "We programme to be black, and yet, for a national debate."73 While some felt that have only just started," concurred. The student "to go through a humanities UCT had wasted time deliberating the students had won a victory on a statue, curriculum without meeting one African, obvious, others like Adam Habib, VC of and they would continue to occupy female lecturer and without learning University of Witwatersrand, felt UCT had Bremner building, re-christened "Azania anything outside of a deeply Eurocentric not deliberated and conversed deeply House," until their demands for racial curriculum." Faced with such intricacies, enough before a decision on the Rhodes transformation were met. "This movement transformation requires careful and statute was concluded.74 is not just about a statue, it’s about decolonizing the colonial structure, the meticulous thinking through to get it right. Following nearly a month of protests and curriculum and everything it stands for," Without such meticulous care and meetings, Senate voted in favour of some insisted. On their transformation thinking through, current clamours for moving Rhodes’ statue as follows: Votes shopping list were plans to lobby in transformation are likely to end in failure in favour: 181; Votes against: 1; Abs- coming months "for the promotion of just as did past initiatives in the 1990s, tentions: 375. The decision was endorsed black lecturers and the enrolment of more Essop warns. To her, if fewer black at a special meeting of Convocation on students from disadvantaged commu- postgraduate students graduate as is Tuesday 7 April 2015, and on Wednesday nities," and to follow up on a proposal often the case, this is "partly because of 8 April the university’s council decided they had submitted requesting that "the socioeconomic circumstances outside of unanimously to remove the statue to be names of various other ‘colonial universities which force them to enter the temporarily housed for safekeeping in an landmarks’ at the university, including workforce earlier, rather than to remain in unnamed storeroom approved by the Jameson Hall, be changed. Jameson Hall academia," and partly because of the Western Cape Heritage Resources was named after Leander Starr Jameson, failures of universities to take the Council, pending a formal application to a confidant of Rhodes." financial, social and academic conditions the council to have the statue removed of black students seriously. "Many black permanently, in accordance with the students have had to come to terms with CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 85 the fact that, despite their relative privilege reportedly resulted in the suspension of additional languages may not be at universities, they do not benefit from Metro FM host Unathi Msengana, and used to exclude anyone from full par- the structures of the academy in the same to Stellenbosch University management ticipation at the University. This ways as white students." Like the RMF being summoned to appear in Parliament implies that all communication at campaigners, Essop’s sights are set for an urgent meeting on transformation.82 Stellenbosch University will be in at beyond the symbolic: "Once the symbols Transformation is hardly merely a case of least English, including meetings, – the statues and names – have been add a little black and stir, while continuing official documents, and services at removed from our campuses, the same with the same structure and the same reception desks and the call centre, etc.84 rage that we see now, must be focused on rules. Commenting on Luister, Jonathan the heart of these academies. That will be Jansen calls on white Afrikaans univer- This announcement was celebrated by the real battle to transform the often invisible sities to make peace with the fact that Open Stellenbosch campaign group with structures and mechanisms that sustain African students are rightly knocking on a Facebook post that read: "The Language institutional racism."80 the doors of learning simply to gain Policy Has Fallen".85 In a BBC report, access to public institutions, and ensure Milton Nkosi adds: "Dropping Afrikaans At Stellenbosch University, which insists that these students are protected from the means that, psychologically and symbo- on Afrikaans as the exclusive language risks to which they are exposed in univer- lically, the walls of apartheid are still of undergraduate instruction, protests to sities where they are a racial minority. He crumbling 21 years after racial segregation open up the university inspired a film by elaborates: was officially removed from the statute Dan Corder of Contraband Cape Town, books."86 working with Open Stellenbosch titled As I have said over and over again, Luister [Listen]81. Produced in just 17 in a country shaped by centuries of Back at UCT, senior management are busy days, Luister, a 35-minute documentary, white supremacy, and with a violent putting together what they deem will be a is made up of interviews with 32 students history of trying to push Afrikaans solid foundation to begin the serious bu- and one lecturer at Stellenbosch down the throats of black people siness of meaningful transformation. University, detailing their experiences of (Soweto 1976), race will always trump They are aiming to engage all consti-tuen- racist abuse, discrimination and exclusion. language in the transformation cies and to be inclusive. The VC is parti- The film is centred on responses to the debates. In other words, because of cularly keen to bring on board "those who question: "What is it like to be a black our history the right to access will have felt marginalised," and "those who person at Stellenbosch University?" All always take on much more political may have unpopular or rather different 32 student interviews were filmed over six significance than language rights. views on where and how to change the The longer leaders of the Afrikaans hours on 2 August 2015. The following university." He seeks to provide for co- universities take to accept this simple quotes of pronouncements by students creation and co-ownership of and unity truth, the more their campuses will around the roadmap for change and into stand out in reviews and discussions of be the target of upheavals for years the future at UCT, to ensure that the uni- the film in social media and newspapers: to come.83 "I feel like it’s wrong to be black […] I versity is truly "a place where all staff and As a direct result of the protests spear- 87 sometimes ask myself when I’m alone, students feel at home and valued." In headed by Open Stellenbosch, on Thurs- why did God make me black when a lot the interest of procee-ding with a collec- day 12 November 2015, Stellen-bosch can happen in a good way when you’re tive transformation project, the VC an- University management announ-ced its otherwise?"; "The colour of my skin in nounced "an executive decision to grant decision to discontinue insistence on Stellenbosch is like a social burden [...] I an amnesty in respect of all protest-rela- Afrikaans as the primary language of mean just walking into spaces, there’s that ted incidents that occurred between the instruction with effect from January 2016. stop, pause, and stare where people first protest on 9 March 2015 and 18 May Here is an excerpt of the statement: cannot believe that you would enter into 2015," insisting that "No disciplinary ac- tion will be brought against any student this space"; "Being black within the Language should be used in a way Stellenbosch community you know that or staff member in respect of these that is oriented towards engagement events." Furthermore, "I have written to you’re not accepted and you kind of ask with knowledge in a diverse society yourself what’s wrong with me, like what and to ensure equitable access to the Student Representative Council did I do wrong?"; "In the beginning I learning and teaching opportunities (SRC), Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) and actually started to assimilate, you know, for all students. Since English is the Transform UCT, to inform them of the exe- wanting to lose myself and attain common language in South Africa, cutive decision, and I trust that as a re- whiteness. Maybe this will work better all learning should be facilitated in sult we will move swiftly to begin and they’ll accept me more because I’m at least English to ensure no exclu- meaningful discussions on the way trying to be like them. And I realised that sion due to language. The University forward." In addition, referring to a group I cannot do that. I’m not willing to sell my remains committed to the further of students who had occupied a building, soul to whiteness. I have to be proudly development of Afrikaans and the VC wrote: "We have provided RMF black." Released 17 August 2015, the film isiXhosa as academic languages. and those occupying Avenue House with had attracted over 343,222 views (3,784 [….] a dedicated venue in a hall next to Ave- likes, 735 dislikes on YouTube) by 5 The primary language of nue House, and they will have to leave October 2015 when I accessed it. It has communication and administration at Avenue House at the latest middle of trended on social media in South Africa, Stellenbosch University will be Monday, 18 May 2015." He urged that attracting the attention of political leaders English, with Afrikaans and isi- the amnesty should not be seen as a sign of all leanings. Debate over the film Xhosa as additional languages. The of "capitulation to pressure"88. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 86

On the urgent and important business of long workshop or summit to design the to my office, she will also be available transformation, the VC outlined the agenda for tackling transformation was to meet with any groups and measures taken by UCT Council at a planned. The list of things done and individuals who wish to raise issues special sitting on 22 April 2015 during planned was not intended to be a related to transformation policy and which several SRC proposals were comprehensive statement of UCT practice – whether these are considered. Council agreed to establish a transformation plans, but rather an concerns or proposals. task team (including student members) to indication that things were on the move I am pleased to announce that Asso- review the names of buildings and works with renewed energy and devotion. The ciate Professor Elelwani Ramugondo of art across campus, in the interest of VC concluded with this appeal: "Once has accepted my invitation to creating an environment conducive to again, I invite all departments, staff and become my Special Advisor and will diversity. Also established was a task team students, the SRC, Transform UCT, RMF, take up the position on 18 June 2015 to review the current function, role and the trade unions and transformation for a 12-month period. powers of the Institutional Forum and structures to seize this opportunity to plot Associate Professor Ramugondo explore how it could play a more effective the course for UCT to achieve leadership has been at UCT since her student role in steering and negotiating trans- and excellence in transformation…"89 days, having obtained her BSc formation. A review of the functioning of Occupational Therapy (1992), her This programme of action approved by MSc and her PhD here. Her career DISCHO (the Discrimination and Council was followed by the appointment Harassment Office) was scheduled to take as a faculty member started as a of Associate Professor Elelwani lecturer in a development contract place before the end of 2015. Provision Ramugondo as "Special Advisor to the post in 1998, and she has moved up was made to extend membership of the Vice-Chancellor on Transformation". the ranks, having been promoted ad Curriculum Review Task Team, a 90Here is an excerpt of the statement hominem to associate professor in subcommittee of the Teaching and annou-ncing the appointment: 2010. She served as head of the Learning Committee, to students, and a division of Occupational Therapy different framework for thinking about The Rhodes Must Fall protests, as from 2010 to 2013. Associate Profes- curriculum reform was to be developed. A we know, were about much more sor Ramugondo has super-vised or review of the structures, resources and than the statue. They reflected is currently supervising seven PhD functioning of Transformation Services deeper underlying frustrations with and 13 Masters students, amongst Office was scheduled. Faculties were the pace of transformation. The res- whom eight are black South encouraged to hold open assemblies and ponse of all constituencies within Africans.91 fora where students are encouraged to the University of Cape Town – from Council to students, Senate, facul- Among her many qualifications for the voice their experience within the faculty, ties, professional and support staff, position, Associate Professor Ramu- drawing on the example of the faculties of unions, to the Institutional Forum gondo was said to have "led some Health Sciences and Law where the (IF) – has been an overwhelming interesting innovations in curriculum initiative was already underway. It was commitment to take much bolder reform within her discipline and announced that the employment equity steps and to focus more energy and profession." Her portfolio included plan for 2015 to 2020 had been intensively resources on the multiple dimens- working with "the task teams being debated and was scheduled to be tabled ions of transformation that lie ahead. established to review names of buildings in Senate and Council in June 2015. A This needs dedicated attention from and artworks." She was expected to review of the functioning of the system my office, and also additional "attend faculty assemblies to hear the of employment equity representatives, coordination as leadership across issues raised," get "involved in the particularly in selection committees, was the university – the deans, academic reviews of the Discrimination and Haras- underway. Funding was being sought to heads of department, executive sment Office and the Transformation invest in "ensuring that the career paths directors, Student Representative office," oversee "the new plans to accele- of every black academic in the junior ranks Council and IF – all drive new rate employment equity and career is individually mapped out, with transformation efforts within our development," identify "issues in the respective spheres of governance requirements for the next promotion institutional climate that need to be and influence. clearly spelled out with a plan for personal addressed," and time permitting, "join the development, including pairing up with In order to ensure the necessary expanded curriculum review process." senior mentors." It was announced that executive focus on the transfor- She was also to serve as "an assessor mation project over the next 12 the composition of promotions com- member of the IF and University Transfor- months, I am appointing a Special mittees was undergoing review in all mation Advisory Committee".92 faculties, to provide for greater Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on transparency, rebuild trust and fairness, Transformation, who will work in my Harry Garuba, a Nigerian Associate and ensure that the changes were office, help me keep abreast of all Professor who heads the School of effective for the 2015 promotions calendar. the initiatives and advise me on African and Gender Studies, Anthro- ways of accelerating the various It was also announced that Transform pology and Linguistics, is sceptical that programmes across the university. UCT (a grouping of black academic staff) committees such as those set up by the This is since I cannot possibly be VC can deliver the rooted transformation had participated in the annual Academic directly involved in them all while of curricula and syllabuses needed to Heads of Department (HOD) workshop still performing the VC functions definitively banish Rhodes’ legacy. "I on the role HODs could play in that I must inevitably carry out. transformation at department level. A day- While in no way being a gatekeeper don’t want the discussion around CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 87 curriculum reform to die a slow, deliberative thinking, in our curricular and peda- showed aggressive behaviour, which death, as so many issues do when landing gogical practices, our professional included banging on her office door," and at the feet of committees." He labels as practices as teachers, academics, scholars to have said: "‘We must not listen to "disingenuous" past explanations and students. We need to take a critical whites, we do not need their apologies. advanced by university management for look at our everyday routine." In short, They have to be removed from UCT and the "disgraceful paucity of black we need to remove the Rhodes that lives have to be killed.’"98 The statement professors." Of essence are conver- in our disciplines and the curricula that suspending him for two months read: "On sations and debates about the nature and underpin them".94 May 7, Mr Maxwele was given a form of a decolonised curriculum in South provisional suspension order because his There is reason to doubt just how ready Africa. Because others have travelled this continued presence on the campus was to turn the page UCT really is. Since the road before, Garuba argues, South Africa considered to pose a threat to the main- Mahmood Mamdani years (1996-1999), does not need to start at ground zero. tenance of good order. This provisional there has been more rhetoric than There are lessons of earlier debates and suspension order was made final after a substance about transformation conclusions reached on the continent and hearing."99 (Nyamnjoh 2012a&b; Morreira 2015), if elsewhere to draw on. Examples cited the address on the challenges of Accusing the university of intimidation, include the University of Nairobi, where curriculum transformation to the RMF conspiracy and of using his suspension Ngugi wa Thiong’o and two of his students by the current A.C. Jordan Chair to achieve political ends by silencing the colleagues initiated a transformation and Director of Centre for African Studies voices of student activists, Maxwele debate that challenged the English at UCT, Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza, is challenged the suspension and released department to open up its usual anything to go by (Ntsebeza 2012, 2014).95 his own version of events, complaining continuities in British content to include It is equally worrying that despite its offer about the tendency in the white world to writings in English from Africa and of amnesty, UCT has not resisted the criminalise and treat as dangerous elsewhere. They demanded the insertion temptation to spot and discipline those it savages black men.100 He was dissatisfied of Kenya, East Africa and Africa at the perceives as scapegoats for the current with the manner in which the university centre of their research and tea-ching, and RMF campaign. In this regard, it has had handled his own complaint on the sought to reconceptualise university singled out Maxwele (who has dared to matter: "My complaint has not been dealt curricula relevant to their context, and not think, speak, write and act as he sees fit in with to date when the complaint against merely an extension of the West into the interest of the collectivity for whom me has been handled with haste and Africa. What the debate in Kenya that he is determined to take leadership on decisiveness," he claimed.101 The univer- eventually led to a major curriculum matters of social, intellectual and sity released a statement refuting transformation in East Africa teaches us economic transformation) for exemplary Maxwele’s102 claims, an amnesty which is that curriculum trans-formation is not discipline and punishment. In the Maxwele dismissed as "purely simply a question of adding new items to totalising and often totalitarian logic of political",103 and citing its offer of "am- an existing curri-culum. It requires a radical systems under attack, it is hardly surpri- nesty to protesters for a specific period interrogation of the very basis for sing, given Maxwele’s prominence and during which they illegally occupied two constituting the object of study.93 leadership role in the RMF campaign, that UCT buildings and disrupted a council Transformation should aim to activate and UCT as an institution would seek to undo meeting" as evidence of its fair- bring into conversations sensitivities and him in any way it could. The obvious, for mindedness in dealing with the RMF sensibilities informed by African live- an institution that purports to thrive on campaigners. The suspension was worlds, experiences and predicaments. He consultative democracy even when the eventually overturned on technical invites us to "recognise the cultural and problem is the majority white establish- grounds by the independent university scientific production – the knowledge – ment and its logic of practice, was to resort student disciplinary tribunal104. of previously devalued groups of to legalisms and pro-establi-shment Disappointed with the outcome, the people." Borrowing from Edward Said, civilities. Not only was Maxwele accused university resolved to issue afresh a Garuba argues that a possible way for- to have done the unthinkable by smearing suspension order, and to accord Maxwele ward could be a contrapuntal approach, Rhodes with human waste,96 he was a right of appeal within 72 hours, a which "takes into account the perspec- portrayed as no stranger to insubor- procedure ignored previously. According tives of both the colonised and the dination to constituted authority (inclu- to Maxwele, UCT acted without due coloniser, their interwoven histories, their ding when he purportedly showed course when they suspended him a discursive entanglements – without President Jacob Zuma’s motorcade the second time, despite his vindication by necessarily harmonising them or middle finger on a Cape Town street in the discipline appeals committee. attending to one while erasing the other." February 2010), alleged to have threa- Following his resuspension, Maxwele Such contrapuntal thinking should take tened whites with extinction, and was turned to the Western Cape High Court place at every level, and should include a suspended from the university in May for justice. The court granted an interim pedagogy that seeks to integrate in a following an altercation with a female order allowing him to register and attend significant way the knowledge of the white lecturer over study space on classes and tutorials.105 It took a High marginalised into what one is teaching. It campus during a public holiday.97 Court ruling in his favour for the is not enough to have moved Rhodes’ Maxwele was charged, inter alia, with suspension to be set aside. To him this statue. This must be followed up with having "raised his voice at the lecturer; was evidence of UCT wanting to silence moving "the hegemonic gaze of the shouted aggressively that ‘the statue fell, him at all costs.106 To interested observers Rhodes that is lodged in our ways of now it’s time for all whites to go’; and like Nhlapho, the disciplinary proceedings CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 88

against Maxwele was added proof that 1.1843802#.VfWkSJce4TZ, accessed 03 20. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ "UCT, a white university, wants black October 2015. UCT-students-to-protest-over-racial- transformation-20150319, accessed 01 students to submit to white domination 8. Greg Nicolson http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/ without complaint, or that their complaint article/2015-04-09-op-ed-statues-of-thought- October 2015. be processed within the defined legal and-symbols-of-resistance/#.VfWKb5ce4TZ, 21. See http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/ channels, processed and reduced within accessed 03 October 2015. 2015/09/04/The-Big-Read-The-storm- a white dominated system, when 47% of rages-unabated, accessed 03 October 2015. whites in South Africa already think 9. Greg Nicolson http:// Apartheid was "not that bad"107 www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-04- 22. Adam Habib, http://www.wits.ac.za/ 09-op-ed-statues-of-thought-and- newsroom/newsitems/201504/26107/ Notes symbols-of-resistance/#.VfWKb5ce4TZ, news_item_26107.html, accessed 05 accessed 03 October 2015. October 2015. 1. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ News/UCT-students-in-poo-protest- 10. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/ 23. See Open letter from former SRC presidents: against-white-imperialism-20150310-2, 4/6/anti-racism-protesters-in-south-africa- ‘Rhodes must fall’, http://www.uct.ac.za/ accessed 01 October 2015. take-aim-at-a-statue-with-poop.html, dailynews/?id=9037, accessed 06 October accessed 17 September 2015. 2015; See also http://allafrica.com/stories/ 2. Upon his return, he issued a statement on18 11. Admits the protests to bring down the statue, 201503230163.html, accessed 01 October March, detailing the measures and UCT retained its position as the highest 2015. programme of action on Rhodes statue ranked university in Africa, giving it the protests and transformation. See http:// 24. A founding member of Media for Justice, a status of the Harvard or Cambridge of Africa, www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9034, accessed social justice and media activist as well as a both universities globally ranked first and 05 October 2015. This is an excerpt of his documentary film-maker. third, as well as being first ranked statement: universities in the USA and UK respectively. 25. See Gillian Schutte, http://www.iol.co.za/ Last week’s student protests have resulted See http://www.destinyconnect.com/2015/ sundayindependent/becoming-a-master-of- in a massive outpouring of anger and 05/27/uct-still-africas-top-ranked- subterfuge-1.1907710#.VfWmypce4TZ, frustration – much about the issue of the university/, accessed 03 October 2015. accessed 01 October 2015. statue, much more about experiences of 12. See Siona O’Connell, UCT: A Campus at 26. See Gillian Schutte, http://www.iol.co.za/ institutional racism, aggravated by students’ Odds with Itself, http://mg.co.za/article/ sundayindependent/becoming-a-master-of- perceptions that they are not being heard, 2014-09-08-uct-a-campus-at-odds-with- subterfuge-1.1907710#.VfWmypce4TZ, or that their demands are not achieving the itself, accessed 17 October 2015. accessed 01 October 2015. response they seek. There are also similar 27. See Xolela Mangcu’s Ripping the veil off frustrations experienced by a number of our 13. Siona O’Connell, http://www.iol.co.za/ UCT’s whiter shades of pale University’s members of staff. There have also been capeargus/what-uct-s-not-telling-their-first- move to ‘downgrade’ race fails to hide the many voices critical of both the mode of years-1.1806441#.ViKF1ise4TZ, accessed truth about inequality, 6 July 2014, Sunday the student protest, and the view that the 17 October 2015. Times, p. 18. See also: http://www.bdlive.co.za/ statue should be removed. Given this recent 14. See Siona O’Connell, UCT: A Campus at opinion/2014/11/03/sas-black-academics-are- escalation of debate and protest, I think it Odds with Itself, http://mg.co.za/article/ getting-raw-deal, accessed 06 October 2015; appropriate to replace our original program- 2014-09-08-uct-a-campus-at-odds-with- Xolela Mangcu, 10 steps to develop black me with a more accelerated process to itself, accessed 17 October 2015. professors, City Press, 20 July 2014. facilitate a more rapid decision about the 15. See Martin Hall, http://www.bbc.com/news/ statue. 28. See University Assembly: The Rhodes Statue business-31945680, accessed 01 October and Transformation, https:// 3. See http://www.iol.co.za/news/uct-rhodes- 2015. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWVJnBVnyPc, statue-protest-both-sides- 16. See http://mg.co.za/article/2015-05-14- accessed 07 October 2015. On this point 1.1831688#.VfWLGpce4TZ, accessed 17 this-is-the-year-varsities-will-transform- Mangcu was echoing a point made September 2015. blade, accessed 30 September 2015. emphatically by Jonathan Jansen at the 21 4. Adekeye Adebajo http://www.bdlive.co.za/ 17. This is how a female student at the UCT October 2014 Public debate: Trans- opinion/columnists/2015/03/23/debate- University Assembly: The Rhodes Statue and formation in higher education at the Baxter over-rhodes-is-one-of-transformation, Transformation described it in a poem when Concert Hall, that the idea of standards is accessed she took the stage to express her frustration often mobilised to exclude those not wanted, 5. Adekeye Adebajo http://www.bdlive.co.za/ at being repeatedly told and expected to as very few universities in South Africa, UCT opinion/columnists/2015/03/23/debate- forgive and forget her white exploiters and included, can demonstrate the standards over-rhodes-is-one-of-transformation, debasers. See https://www.youtube.com/ they often claim when challenged to be more accessed watch?v=eWVJnBVnyPc, accessed 07 inclusive. See https://www.youtube.com/ October 2015. watch?v=thiiUDeIySw, accessed 08 October 6. Simon Lincoln Reader, http:// 2015. www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2015/ 18. See http://africasacountry.com/2015/09/ 03/27/one-monument-cannot-capture-all- achille-mbembe-on-the-state-of-south- 29. Tokelo Nhlapo, http:// countrys-ills, accessed 03 October 2015. african-politics/, accessed 01 October 2015. www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2015- 03-11-ucts-poo-protest-violence-is-a-perfect- 7. See http://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/ 19. See http://africasacountry.com/2015/09/ reaction/#.VfXL4Jce4TZ, accessed 04 rhodes-scholars-play-a-vital-role-in-sa- achille-mbembe-on-the-state-of-south- african-politics/, accessed 01 October 2015. October 2015. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 89

30. See Xolela Mangcu, 10 steps to develop black candidates pass their final school-leaving 43. See http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/ professors, City Press, 20 July 2014; Max exam. columnists/2015/03/27/uproar-at-uct-has- Price, Addressing the shortage of black and only-been-good-for-it, accessed 17 The report found that "people aged 14 to women professors, http://www.uct.ac.za/ September 2015. 25 years old account for 29% of the dailynews/?id=8891, accessed 06 October country’s prison population." 44. See http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/ 2015. 2015/03/27/uproar-at-uct-has-only-been-good- See "Born free but still in chains: South 31. See Xolela Mangcu, What a less Eurocentric for-it, accessed 17 September 2015. Africa’s first post-apartheid generation," reading list would look like, http:// http://www.biznews.com/briefs/2015/04/29/ 45. See http://www.politicsweb.co.za/party/anc- www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9275, accessed sas-born-frees-likely-to-drift-into-violent- nec-backs-rhodes-statue-protests-at-uct, 06 October 2015. protests-says-report/, accessed 03 October accessed 02 October 2015. 32. See http://www.jwtc.org.za/the_salon/ 2015. 46. See http://mg.co.za/article/2015-05-14- volume_9.htm, accessed 12 October 2015. 40. See http://www.iol.co.za/news/uct-rhodes- this-is-the-year-varsities-will-transform- 33. See http://www.jwtc.org.za/the_salon/ statue-protest-both-sides- blade, accessed 30 September 2015. volume_9.htm, accessed 12 October 2015. 1.1831688#.VfWLGpce4TZ, accessed 17 47. See http://allafrica.com/stories/201503230163.html, September 2015. For a similarly critical 34. See http://www.jwtc.org.za/the_salon/ accessed 01 October 2015. open letter on the Rhodes Must Fall volume_9.htm, accessed 12 October 2015. Movement addressed to the President of 48. See http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/politics/ 35. Shose Kessi, http://thoughtleader.co.za/ UCT Convocation Barney Pityana, by 2015/04/07/eff-calls-for-public-spaces-to- blackacademiccaucus/2015/09/25/of-black- Leigh-Ann Naidoo, a PhD student in be-reconstructed, accessed 02 October 2015. pain-animal-rights-and-the-politics-of-the- Education at the University of the 49. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ belly/, accessed 01 October 2015. Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, see http:// News/UCT-protesters-vow-to-continue- 3 6 . Panashe Chigumadzi, http://www.theguardian.com/ www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2015- occupation-of-building-20150410, accessed world/2015/aug/24/south-africa-race-panashe- 04-14-open-letter-to-barney-pityana-on- 02 October 2015. chigumadzi-ruth-first-lecture, accessed 03 the-rhodes-must-fall-movement/ 50. See http://allafrica.com/stories/201503230163.html, October 2015. #.VfWVl5ce4TZ, accessed 17 September accessed 01 October 2015. 2015. Naidoo concluded her letter with this 37. How can one quibble about black pain in call to action: "Don’t stand by and watch 51. See https://www.enca.com/south-africa/cecil- what Mbembe describes as the only country these students and their message and action rhodes-statue-should-be-moved-uct-vice- in which a revolution took place which be criminalised. They are speaking truth to chancellor, accessed 05 October 2015. resulted in not one single oppressor losing power as you once did. And you know what anything? See http://africasacountry.com/ 52. See for example, http://www.news24.com/ it feels like to be served with legal papers, 2015/09/achille-mbembe-on-the-state-of- SouthAfrica/News/American-students- bannings, trials, and police harassment. south-african-politics/, accessed 01 October support-RhodesMustFall-Campaign- Perhaps Max Price will go to sleep at night 2015. 20150326, accessed 17 September 2015. feeling accomplished to have contained and In a message of solidarity posted on The 38. See https://medium.com/@tomolefe/a-long- shut down the possibility for real change Rhodes Must Fall Facebook page, members comment-on-mbembe-s-state-of-south- driven by brave black staff, students, workers of the Black Student Union at the University african-politics-5cd1030a1990, accessed 01 and alumni. But will you?" In his defence, of California, Berkeley, USA wrote: "We October 2015. Professor Barney Ptiyana reportedly said, write to express to you our strongest 39. According to a survey of born-frees "amid a chorus of boos and jeers": ""It is solidarity as you embark in the courageous conducted in the course of the Rhodes Must untrue that I said the statue must stay […] I struggle to take down one of Africa’s biggest Fall campaign, many born-frees declared said it is important to raise this issue at all enemies, and colonizer, Cecil John Rhodes." they were likely to resort to violent protests levels and to think about how to handle "We believe that, when we as Black students because of the persistence of inequalities in history [...] the only reason why I am here and youth organize ourselves in a disciplined the country. is to facilitate debate [...] if my presence is manner, the decolonization of our education not helpful I am more than happy to step and the total liberation of our people is According to the report, "unemployment down." See http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/ inevitable." Other displays of support came rates are higher among younger people‚ 2015/03/26/pityana-replaced-as-co-chair- from universities within South Africa, and women and Africans." On the expanded of-rhodes-debate, accessed 2015. See also also from universities outside of South Africa definition of unemployment‚ the rate University Assembly: The Rhodes Statue and such as Oxford University and the among African males aged 15 to 24 years is Transformation, https://www.youtube.com/ University of the West Indies. See http:// 67% compared with 75% of African females. watch?v=eWVJnBVnyPc, accessed 07 mg.co.za/article/2015-03-26- Violent protests in SA have almost doubled October 2015. rhodesmustfall-protest-spreads-to-other- in the last three years and it is suspected 41. See http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/ campuses, accessed 05 October 2015 that the economically disenfranchised youth 2015/4/6/anti-racism-protesters-in-south- 53. See University Assembly: The Rhodes Statue may play a huge part in it. africa-take-aim-at-a-statue-with- and Transformation, https://www.youtube.com/ Born frees are also receiving poor quality poop.html, accessed 17 September 2015. watch?v=eWVJnBVnyPc, accessed 07 October education, said the report, with literacy and 42. See Trevor Noah, Its My Culture Full Show, 2015. The students who read out these posts numeracy scores in Grade 3 in this group https://www.youtube.com/ requested management do disengage itself barely above 50%. This has a major ripple watch?v=DBYgnTIaG4c, accessed 06 through positive action to demonstrate that effect later on as only 51% of matric October 2015. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 90

they were not complicit in perpetuating such ‘The University and Society’ and hosted at statue protests and transformation http:// racist innuendos. the Baxter Concert Hall on 21 October www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9034; 54. For short critical analyses of the protests’ 2014, participating panellists were Dr Max Appointment of Special Advisor to the Vice- achievements and shortcomings, see Vito Price, UCT’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chancellor on Transformation http:// Laterza and Ayanda Manqoyi, http:// Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice- www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9212; UCT and www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-11- Chancellor of the University of the Free Rhodes Must Fall sign agreementhttp:// 06-looking-for-leaders-student-protests- State, and Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9175; UCT and-the-future-of-south-african- Vice Principal: Research and Innovation at grants amnesty to protesters http:// democracy/#.VkiN67-3ud8, accessed 15 the University of South Africa. www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9155; Urgent update on the Rhodes statue and Bremner November 2015; and David Dickinson, 57. See http://mg.co.za/article/2015-03-06- occupation http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ http://theconversation.com/fee-protests- brazen-trickery-in-transformation, accessed ?id=9100; Response to Sunday Independent point-to-a-much-deeper-problem-at-south- 30 September 2015. african-universities-49456, accessed 16 article: ‘Adebajo distorts Price’s view on 58. Further reflections on this issue, see for November 2015. Both articles insist on the Rhodes’ http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ example, Achille Mbembe, http:// much deeper structural inequalities and ?id=9068; Update on Rhodes statue and wiser.wits.ac.za/system/files/ challenges at South African universities and occupation of Bremner Building http:// Achille%20Mbembe%20- the wider society that need urgent attention. www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9063; Progress %20Decolonizing%20Knowledge% On his part, Paul Kaseke makes a case for in discussing the removal of Rhodes statue 20and%20the%20Question%20of% student leaders to "be elected on merit, not http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9051; 20the%20Archive.pdf, party affiliation," arguing that the Price applauds students for bringing accessed 09 October 2015; http:// momentum and solidarity generated by the transformation issues into focus http:// wiser.wits.ac.za/content/podcast-achille- student protests were soon dissipated once www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/?id=9042. His mbembes-public-lecture-decolonizing- the party political considerations of the deputies and other instances of senior university-12046, various student leaders were prioritised over management were equally busy. accessed 09 October 2015. and above the broader interests and concerns 65. See http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/2015/ of the student body. See http:// 59. Many African countries have since regretted 04/10/botha-statue-may-be-toppled-next, theconversation.com/why-student-leaders- the fact that they obtained token political accessed 17 September 2015. should-be-elected-on-merit-not-party- independence – usually derogatorily referred affiliation-49549, accessed 17 November to by critics as "flag independence" to the 66. See CT Talks: Heritage, Signage and 2015. Kaseke’s point is buttressed by the detriment of the economic independence Symbolism https://www.youtube.com/ situation at the University of the Western they ought to have sought vigorously in watch?v=4NgpJ00M5Ho, accessed 06 Cape, where students continued the protests order to avoid the excessive economic October 2015. despite the announcement on zero fee incre- dependence on former colonial masters and 67. See Martin Hall, http://www.bbc.com/news/ ment by President Zuma, calling on the the West at large in the postcolonial era. business-31945680, accessed 01 October university to write-off student debts worth Kwame Nkrumah’s slogan – seek ye first 2015. more than R270-million, and resorting to the political kingdom and all else shall 68. See http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/ violence and physical confrontation to follow – was an extravagant illusion to which western-cape/vice-chancellor-statue-should- make their case. In an article title "UWC the post-apartheid ANC government seem be-moved-1.1833822#.VfXERpce4TZ, caught between a rock and a hard place," to have fallen prey. Thulani Gqirana bemoans the "demands that accessed 02 October 2015. 60. See http://www.destinyman.com/2015/04/ lack legitimacy" as well as "a student lead- 69. See http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/ 23/ucts-latest-move-towards- ership not elected through a democratic western-cape/vice-chancellor-statue-should- transformation-may-not-be-the-best-way- process," and "who lack negotiation expe- be-moved-1.1833822#.VfXERpce4TZ, forward/, accessed 03 October 2015. rience". See http://mg.co.za/article/2015- accessed 02 October 2015. 11-17-uwc-caught-between-a-rock-and-a- 61. See http://www.mediaforjustice.net/achille- 70. See http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/ hard-place, accessed 17 October 2015. mbembes-state-of-south-african-politics- western-cape/vice-chancellor-statue-should- undermines-black-south-africans/?fb_ 55. See Xolela Mangcu’s Ripping the veil off be-moved-1.1833822#.VfXERpce4TZ, action_ids=10154170807341124&fb UCT’s whiter shades of pale University’s action_types=og.likes, accessed_ accessed 02 October 2015. move to ‘downgrade’ race fails to hide the 01 October 2015. 71. Adekeye Adebajo, http://www.bdlive.co.za/ truth about inequality, 6 July 2014, Sunday opinion/columnists/2015/03/23/debate- Times, p. 18. See also: http://www.bdlive.co.za/ 62. See Shose Kessi http://thoughtleader.co.za/ over-rhodes-is-one-of-transformation, opinion/2014/11/03/sas-black-academics-are- blackacademiccaucus/2015/09/25/of-black- accessed 02 October 2015. getting-raw-deal, accessed 06 October 2015; pain-animal-rights-and-the-politics-of-the- Xolela Mangcu, 10 steps to develop black belly/, accessed 01 October 2015. 72. Max Price, Response to Sunday Independent professors, City Press, 20 July 2014. 63. See Shose Kessi http://thoughtleader.co.za/ article: ‘Adebajo distorts Price’s view on 56. See for example, Public debate: blackacademiccaucus/2015/09/25/of-black- Rhodes’, http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ Transformation in higher education, https:/ pain-animal-rights-and-the-politics-of-the- ?id=9068, accessed 06 October 2015. /www.youtube.com/watch?v=thiiUDeIySw, belly/, accessed 01 October 2015. 73. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ accessed 08 October 2015. This debate, 64. See the following statements by Vice News/UCT-leadership-want-Rhodes-statue- which took the form of a panel discussion, Chancellor Max Price, beginning from 18 moved-20150325, accessed 02 October was chaired by Sakhela Buhlungu. Titled March, when returned from Senegal: Rhodes 2015. See also Hello Slaapstad, a vide on CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 91

Rhodes Must Fall by Yazeed Kamaldien, including Rhodes, UCT and Stellenbosch, universities, and the challenge of https://www.youtube.com/ resonating with students across the country, transformation of curricula and higher watch?v=z2PV5D9LtA0, accessed 07 and attracting international support and education in South Africa. "Government October 2015. solidarity from university students globally. understands the difficulty faced by students For details, see for example, http:// from poor households and urges all affected 74. Adam Habib, http://www.wits.ac.za/ www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/10/19/ to allow the process to unfold to find long newsroom/newsitems/201504/26107/ Rhodes-shuts-down-as-students-blockade- term solutions in order to ensure access to news_item_26107.html, accessed 05 entrances; http://www.timeslive.co.za/ education by our students," President Zuma October 2015. It is ironic though, that Habib sundaytimes/stnews/2015/10/19/UCT- urged. See http://www.scribd.com/doc/ would fail to practice the very deep, engaging appeals-for-calm-ahead-of- 286630723/President-Zuma-no-fee- deliberative conversation when confronted Tuesday%E2%80%99s-fees-protest; http:/ increase, accessed 23 October 2015. For with the case of Mcebo Dlamini, the /mg.co.za/article/2015-10-19- short critical analyses of the protests’ University of Witwatersrand SRC President, rhodesmipmustfall-brings-rhodes- achievements and shortcomings, see Vito who posted his admiration for Adolf Hitler university-to-a-standstill, accessed 20 Laterza and Ayanda Manqoyi, http:// on Facebook, outraging the South African October 2015. These protests were evidence www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-11- Union of Jewish Students, among others. not only of well-structured (even if 06-looking-for-leaders-student-protests- Dlamini was summarily expelled from the spontaneous and lacking in a central and-the-future-of-south-african- university, leading him to complain: "If I coordinating leadership beyond the party democracy/#.VkiN67-3ud8, accessed 15 was a white student, I wouldn’t have been political affiliations of the individual November 2015; and David Dickinson, charged." See http://www.thedailyvox.co.za/ members of the different SRCs involved) http://theconversation.com/fee-protests- if-i-was-a-white-student-i-wouldnt-have- student movements countrywide, but also point-to-a-much-deeper-problem-at-south- been-charged-dlamini/, accessed 05 October of repeated statements by leaders of the african-universities-49456, accessed 16 2015; see also, http://www.news24.com/ RMF movement that bringing down the November 2015. Both articles insist on the SouthAfrica/News/SRC-presidents- statue was just the beginning of a long list of much deeper structural inequalities and comments-racist-and-offensive-Wits-VC- items on their transformation menu, challenges at South African universities and 20150428, accessed 05 October 2015. including the right to free education the wider society that need urgent attention. Subsequently, Habib was described as a promised them in the constitution and On his part, Paul Kaseke makes a case for dictator by striking students protesting "a repeatedly reiterated by the ANC leadership, student leaders to "be elected on merit, not 10.5 per cent fee hike," with some referring including the late Nelson Mandela. party affiliation," arguing that the to him as "Adolf Habib." The fee increase Following an emergency meeting of momentum and solidarity generated by the was said to affect black students in particular, university leaders nationwide in Cape Town student protests were soon dissipated once who continue to feel marginalised and to be on Tuesday 20 October 2015 with the the party political considerations of the plagued by poverty. In the words of Mcebo Minister of Higher Education Blade various student leaders were prioritised over Dlamini, "We continue with the struggle to Nzimande, a meeting at which students were and above the broader interests and concerns educate black people. Wits must lead society represented, an agreement was reached to of the student body. See http:// but they neglect us. Our families look up to cap fees increase at 6% for 2016. The theconversation.com/why-student-leaders- us to change this poverty cycle." When the striking students rejected the agreement, should-be-elected-on-merit-not-party- protesting students held VC Habib hostage, insisting on zero per cent increase. On affiliation-49549, accessed 17 November the university Council was summoned Wednesday 21 October, universities 2015. Kaseke’s point is buttressed by the summarily and the decision to increase nationwide were grounded by student action, situation at the University of the Western tuition and residence fees was suspended, at the highlight of which being the mobilising Cape, where students continued the protests the end of a meeting that lasted 21 hours. of the police to disperse with violent force despite the announcement on zero fee See http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/ a group of UCT and Cape Peninsular increment by President Zuma, calling on gauteng/habib-held-hostage-by-students- University of Technology students who the university to write-off student debts 1.1931589#.ViIShCse4TY and http:// descended on Parliament building in Cape worth more than R270-million, and mg.co.za/article/2015-10-17-wits-protest- Town, requesting to be addressed by Minister resorting to violence and physical habib-forced-to-hear-student-demands, Nzimande. When the student protests confrontation to make their case. In an accessed 17 October 2015; http:// persisted and intensified, President Zuma article title "UWC caught between a rock www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/ organised an emergency meeting at the and a hard place," Thulani Gqirana bemoans 2015/10/18/Victory-for-students-as-Wits- Union Buildings with vice-chancellors, the "demands that lack legitimacy" as well backs-off-on-fees, accessed 20 October chairs of university councils and student as "a student leadership not elected through 2015. See also a call for affordable representatives on Friday 23 October, at a democratic process," and "who lack university student fees "to allow for greater the end of which they resolved in favour of negotiation experience". See http:// access to the poor, poor working class and "a zero increase of university fees in 2016." mg.co.za/article/2015-11-17-uwc-caught- even middle class families" by Deputy A task team to address a package of between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place, accessed President Cyril Ramaphosa, http:// important related issues was also agreed 17 October 2015. www.msn.com/en-za/news/education/ upon. Among the issues the team would ramaphosa-calls-for-affordable-university- 75. See statement issued by Pat Lucas, dated 27 follow up on were demands for free fees/ar-AAfu7Yv?li=AAaxc0E, accessed 17 March 2015, titled, Further Info on UCT education, the need to address institutional October 2015. The fees protests dubbed Senate Vote in Favour of Moving Rhodes’ racism in universities, the question of the "#FeesMustFall" on twitter caught on like Statue. extent of institutional autonomy for wildfire, spreading to other universities, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 92

76. In September the university issued an update watch?v=3cufFANkFug, accessed 05 rhodesuniversity/content/ on the application for a permanent removal, October 2015. equityinstitutionalculture/documents/ announcing that it had sought and obtained Reflections%20on%20Conference%20- 83. Jonathan Jansen, http://www.rdm.co.za/ an extension of the deadline for the %20P%20Segalo,%20UNISA%20.pdf, politics/2015/09/03/campuses-in-sa-are-in- submission of the application for permanent accessed 09 October 2015. turmoil.-what-s-the-root-cause-of-the- removal of the Rhodes Statue and Heritage upheaval, 05 October 2015. 96. Clearly revolted by the act, Simon Lincoln Statement, from 28 September 2015 to 12 Reader represents it as follows: November 2015, in order to allow for 84. See http://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/ extensive comments from all parties DispForm.aspx?ID=3172, accessed 13 Desecrating anything with human faeces is concerned. See http://www.uct.ac.za/ November 2015. one of the most contemptible forms of protest; in the context of the University of dailynews/?id=9367, accessed 05 October 85 See South Africa's Stellenbosch University Cape Town debacle, it was worsened by the 2015. aims to drop Afrikaans after protests, http:/ reality that staff — black staff — were left 77. See The short rise and long fall of Rhodes /www.bbc.com/news/world-africa- to sanitise the defiled statue of Cecil John statue, https://www.youtube.com/ 34807291, accessed 13 November 2015. Rhodes. It has been near-impossible to gauge watch?v=Y-rTQrybZpk, accessed 07 86. See Milton Nkosi, Why South African the objective due in part to the blinding October 2015. students want to be taught in English, http:/ incoherence of the protest leader — a 78. See http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/2015/ /www.bbc.com/news/world-africa- troubled boy who has an impressive rap 04/10/video-the-short-rise-and-long-fall- 34811562, accessed 16 November 2015. sheet of attention-seeking. See http:// of-rhodes-statue, accessed 17 September 87. See http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2015/ 2015. ?id=9155, accessed 20 September 2015. 03/27/one-monument-cannot-capture-all- countrys-ills, accessed 03 October 2015. 79. See Kwezilomso Mbandazayo, United Front 88. See http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ Interim National Co-Convenor, http:// ?id=9155, accessed 20 September 2015. 97. See detailed UCT press statement on the www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/students- matter, http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ 89. See http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ should-unite-in-struggle-against-failed-u, ?id=9198, accessed 03 October 2015. ?id=9155, accessed 20 September 2015. accessed 05 October 2015. 98. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ 90. See http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ 80. Tasneem Essop http://www.thedailyvox.co.za/ News/Maxwele-My-comments-about- ?id=9212, accessed 21 September 2015. student-rage-and-the-battle-for- whites-just-allegations-20150608, accessed transformation-at-sas-universities/, accessed 91. See http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ 03 October 2015. 05 October 2015. For more at University ?id=9212, accessed 21 September 2015. 99. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ of Witwatersrand where students have 92. See http://www.uct.ac.za/dailynews/ News/UCT-students-suspension-lifted-on- joined the revolutionary bandwagon, and ?id=9212, accessed 21 September 2015. technical-grounds-20150612, 03 October "standing up to the conditions of whiteness 93. See Harry Garuba, http://mg.co.za/article/ 2015. their parents accepted, confronting a 2015-04-17-what-is-an-african-curriculum, colonial history manifest in the present," 100. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ accessed 04 October 2015. as Greg Nicolson puts it, see his review of a News/UCT-rejects-Maxwele-conspiracy- documentary titled "Decolonising Wits," by 94. See Harry Garuba, http://mg.co.za/article/ theory-claims-20150609, accessed 03 Aryan Kaganof, http:// 2015-04-17-what-is-an-african-curriculum, October 2015. www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/ accessed 04 October 2015. 101. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ 2015-07-15-decolonising-wits-a- 95. See also Decolonizing the Curriculum by News/Poo-flinging-UCT-student-says- disconnect-of-content-and-context/ Prof Lungisile Ntsebeza filmed by Wandile suspension-is-politically-motivated- #.Vfhblpce4TZ, accessed 05 October 2015. Kasibe, https://www.youtube.com/ 20150511, accessed 03 81.See https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JF8KVQSQCnk, accessed 08 October 2015. watch?v=sF3rTBQTQk4, October 2015. In his address, Ntsebeza, who 102. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ accessed 05 October 2015. says he is not out to change anyone’s course, News/Students-suspension-not-related-to- discusses a university wide course he 82. It led to the production of a documentary protests-UCT-20150515, accessed 03 envisages on the teaching of Africa, Luister [Listen], a film exposing South October 2015. including the possibility of offering a major Africa’s ongoing racism problem, with 103. See http://www.iol.co.za/news/south- in African studies. The fact that he is still Stellenbosch University as a case in point. africa/western-cape/uct-amnesty-purely- talking in rudimentary terms is an indication http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/ political-maxwele- that little of substance, especially sep/07/luister-south-africa-film-racism- 1.1860007#.VfXD8Jce4TZ, accessed 03 structurally, has changed in the teaching of stellenbosch, accessed 05 October 2015. See October 2015. Africa at UCT since the Mamdani years. also, Greg Nicolson, http:// For additional insights and reflections 104. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-09- provoked by RMF, see Cherry Bomb, on News/UCT-students-suspension-lifted-on- 01-stellenbosch-luister-could-lead-to- colonial legacies and the violence of liberal technical-grounds-20150612, 03 October change/#.VfmAjpce4TZ, accessed 05 whiteness at UCT – April 2015, http:// 2015. October 2015; for the Stellenbosch fleurmach.com/2015/07/14/on-colonial- University appearance before Higher 105. See http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ legacies-and-the-violence-of-whiteness-at- Education Portfolio Committee in News/Interim-order-allows-Maxwele-to- uct-april-2015/, accessed 09 October 2015; Parliament, see https://www.youtube.com/ attend-UCT-classes-20150722, accessed Puleng Segalo, http://www.ru.ac.za/media/ 05 October 2015. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 93

106. See http://citizen.co.za/772402/maxwele- in Contemporary South Africa. Johan- Ntsebeza, L. 2012, "African Studies at UCT: An wins-case-against-racist-uct/, accessed 04 nesburg: Wits University Press. Overview," in: Nhlapo, T. and Garuba, H. October 2015. (eds) 2012, African Studies in the Post- Mamdani, M. 1996, Citizen and subject: colonial University, Cape Town: University 107. Tokelo Nhlapo, http:// Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late of Cape Town Press. (pp.1-22). www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/ colonialism. Cape Town: David Philip. 2015-03-11-ucts-poo-protest-violence- Ntsebeza, L. 2014, "The Mafeje and the UCT Mamdani, M. 1998a, "Is African studies to be is-a-perfect-reaction/#.VfXL4Jce4TZ, Saga: Unfinished Business?" Social turned into a new home for Bantu education accessed 04 October 2015. Dynamics, 40(2): 274-288. at UCT?" Social Dynamics, 24(2): 63-75. Also published in CODESRIA Bulletin, No.2, Nyamnjoh, FB. 2002, "Local Attitudes Towards References pp.11-15. Citizenship and Foreigners in Botswana: An Adam, H. and Moodley, K. 2015, Imagined Appraisal of Recent Press Stories," Journal Mamdani, M. 1998b, When does a settler become Liberation: Xenophobia, Citizenship, and of Southern African Studies. 28(4):751-771. a Native? Reflections of the colonial roots Identity in South Africa, Germany, and of citizenship in Equatorial and South Nyamnjoh, FB. 2006, Insiders and Outsiders: Canada, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Africa, 208 (n.s.). Cape Town: University Citizenship and Xenophobia in Con- Temple University Press. of Cape Town. temporary Southern Africa. London: Adhikari, M., 2005. Not White Enough, Not CODESRIA–Zed Books. Mamdani, M. 2007, Scholars in the Marketplace: Black Enough. Athens: Ohio University The Dilemmas of Neo-Liberal Reform at Nyamnjoh, F.B. 2007. "From Bounded to Press. Makerere University, 1989–2005, Dakar: Flexible Citizenship: Lessons from Africa," Fanon, F., 1967, The Wretched of the Earth, CODESRIA. Citizenship Studies, 11(1): 73-82 Harmondsworth: Penguin. Modisane, B. 1986[1963], Blame Me on History, Nyamnjoh, FB. 2012a, "Potted Plants in February, V., 1991. Mind Your Colour: The New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. Greenhouses: A Critical Reflection on the Coloured Stereotype in South African Resilience of Colonial Education in Africa," Morreira, S. 2015, "Steps Towards Decolonial Literature. London: Kegan Paul. Journal of Asian and African Studies, Higher Education in Southern Africa? 47(2):129-154. Hall, M. 1998, "‘Bantu Education?’ A Reply to Epistemic Disobedience in the Humanities," Mahmood Mamdani," Social Dynamics, Journal of Asian and African Studies, DOI: Nyamnjoh, FB. 2012b, "Blinded by Sight: Diving 24(2): 86-92. 10.1177/0021909615577499, pp.1-15. the Future of Anthropology in Africa," Africa Spectrum 47(2-3):63-92. Isin, E.F. 2012, Citizens without Frontiers, Ngugi wa Thiong’o 1986, Decolonising the London: Continuum. Mind: The Politics of Language in African Nyamnjoh, F.B. and Shoro, K. 2014, "Testing Kopytoff, I. 1987. The African Frontier: The Literature. London: James Currey. the Waters of African Renaissance in Post- Apartheid South Africa," in: Thenjiwe Reproduction of Traditional African Societies, Nhlapo, T. and Garuba, H. (eds) 2012, African Meyiwa, Muxe Nkondo, Margaret Chitiga- Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Studies in the Post-colonial University, Cape Mabugu, Moses Sithole and Francis Landau, L.B. (ed.) 2011, Exorcising the Demons Town: University of Cape Town Press. Nyamnjoh, (eds), State of the Nation 2014: Within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft South Africa 1994-2014: A Twenty-year Rev CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 94

Scars of Memory and Scales of Justice: Rethinking Political Assassinations in Post-colonial Africa

"We are mourning here … not his death II to grant permission to set up a museum but the manner in which he met his of memory to commemorate slave trade Babere Kerata Chacha death. Even if it takes 100 years, we want and slavery. The reluctant Bush is said to Laikipia University to know why he was killed and by who… have replied and told him that the Kenya The Daily Nation, March 17, 1975. ‘strength of Americans lies in what they Mwai Kibaki , On JM Kariuki’s assassi- forget and not necessarily what they can nation in Kenya. Introduction remember…..why then bring bad memory While speaking to a group of scholars at to them again?’ This was indeed a very Preamble the Taylor Institute of Oxford University, controversial answer concerning the use Many African independent states have on a topic titled: Scars of Memory and of memory and quite significantly; history. been unable to sufficiently marshal their the Scales of Justice1. Wole Soyinka, Indeed, Kammen's Mystic Chords of enormous human and material resources struggled to engage in a rather controver- Memory adequately hooks us onto this to achieve a lasting political stability, sial subject of memory and forgiveness wagon of argument, when he notes that economic growth and sustainable when he openly wondered how modern Americans too are devoted to memory. development. Since independence, many societies should respond to the com- Kammen proves this character by countries have witnessed an extensive, mission of despicable acts in public life chronicling the growth and development disturbing and systematic history of occurring on a systemic level; Commis- of historical societies, erections of histo- politically motivated killings and sions of acts such as slavery in the US, rical monuments, government funding for assassinations. The African regimes have apartheid in South Africa, or even tyranny preservation, and academic and popular presided over shocking and sometimes through the hands of individual tyrants sentiments through documented brutally effective record of inhumane laws, in Africa. Soyinka concluded that forgi- testimonies, public lectures, and private harassment, impri-sonment, torture and veness as "a value is far more humanly letters. He demonstrates America's pra- other forms of oppression to terrorize, exacting than vengeance… yet cannot gmatic approach to memory; the things silence or otherwise neutralize those with swallow the proposition that it will, by they choose to remember and the things dissenting views to the establishment. itself, suffice". Most importantly though, they choose to forget. A major theme in Sadly, while such state perpetrated in this juxtaposition, and like E. P. his exposition is the ways in which atrocities have been committed against Thompson, Soyinka admonished histo- nations have utilized the past in order to citizens, there has never been any form rians who rescue the "casualties of history reconstruct an adequate national identity.3 of official acknowledgement or apology. …from enormous condensation of posterity2.…by reconstituting the Collective memories work much the same For instance, Kenya had been ruled by way; they foster and define group regimes which have had no respect for vanished components of the world we have lost… identities, telling a group of people where human rights, the rule of law, social they have come from, who they are and justice, transparency, accountability These casualties are the heroes who how they should act in the present and and other trends of democracy. It is suffered or were wounded or even killed future.4 In comparison, Kenya still against this background that a Truth, either as individuals or as a group while stubbornly clings to its past; it has an Justice and Reconciliation Commission states and governments made efforts to uncertain past haunted by a series of (TJRC) was established in Kenya to erase their memories from the public mysterious murders and state sponsored expose the colonial menaces of land sphere. Consequently, to help societies killings and for this reason, for many grabbing, massacres; the immediate post- to heal and bring to justice past atrocities decades now, the country is faced with independent frames of assas-sinations, as committed by those in such autocratic an uncertain future that is characterized well as the late indepen-dence skeletons regimes, historians would indeed engage by ethnic mistrust and fear. This is the of state killings, the `ethnic clashes`; and in tenuous exercises of indulgence by ultimate reason why TJRC was formed, the economic scandals. evoking those memories and bringing not only to help Kenyans to venture and Today, nations throughout the world are them to people’s attention. expose their dark past and come to terms coming to terms with their pasts; Europe In a similar controversy over the subject, with it, but to also account for the ills that with its colonial history, America its dark Americans too were recently caught by have shaped their history. past of slavery, South Africa’s vicious the fin-de-siecle disposition of past cen- Nevertheless, alongside such under- apartheid and Germany with the scars left turies memories. This was revealed at a standing of Soyinka and George Bush II from two totalitarian regimes. Within this conference organized by the Omuhondro on official national memory, as concre- evolving process of dealing with the past, Institute at Elimina Beach, Cape Coast tised in remembering or forgetting, we the issue of compensating victims has Ghana in 2007. One of the participants know that numerous sub-national often been at the forefront of the public reported that he had made a request to memories are often maintained and discourse. the then American President, George Bush transmitted on a more informal basis. For CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 95 instance, while official memory of political public history-telling in this country to academic historiography.7 However, in Mau Mau assassinations and extra- national political transformation is often reviewing Berber Bevernage’s book judicial murders was suppressed through elusive and biased. This is so, mainly ‘History, Memory, and State-Sponsored decades of state-endorsed amnesia, because Kenya is in a state of denial. It is Violence’ Franzki thinks that it is a proof published memoirs of former fighters and denying its past and its present and it is that such an engagement is pertinent to detainees of the rebellion allowed Mau denying its future. The Kenyan state is both the field of transitional justice and Mau to stay alive in the public memory. suffering from what Onyango-Oloka calls history in itself as a discipline. An analysis a ‘calculated historical amnesia’ or what of truth commissions and their practical In the wider African context, orality as has been referred to as ‘selective am- use of history sheds light on the ‘politics captured in historical narratives play a big nesia’. Kenyans tend to choose what to of time’ that are at work in transitional role in maintaining and transmitting remember and what to forget. justice practices. memories. What do relatives or friends of the victims of assassination or state Memory is often seen as a prerequisite Political Assassinations, the State sponsored killings remember and feel for healing the wounds of the past, and and the Scare of Nationhood: about this? What grudges do they have? therefore a necessary condition for A Theoretical Perspective How can they be addressed? The key role reconciliation, both on an individual level of orality, and in this case; the narratives as well as in politics and society. For only Political assassinations, just like as in war of the established commissions of inquires those who remember the past will be able have bred insecurity at unprecedented play a vital role as primary foci of memory.5 to prevent the recurrence of evils from proportions in many concerned countries the past. It would therefore be morally around the world. The assassination's Through the truth commissions and callous and possibly unjust to simply historical importance lies in a horde of public hearings, a window of opportunity dismiss every historical injustice as factors; the most pertinent being the has opened to help those whose memories superseded by the passage of time. global context in which it took place, its had been suppressed to speak out and Unfortunately, all former heads of state in impact on politics since then and the express their fear, anger and pain. In Kenya have dismissed the past and overall legacy of the assassinated as addition, the duty to remember and admonished citizens to forge ahead and national or political leaders. Rightly, address the past is essential in helping forget the past in popular aphorism: assassinations are amongst the highest ensure that future generations ‘never tusahau yaliyopita tuanze upya meaning, profile acts of political violence, and again’ repeat such violations, and the lets forget the past and forge ahead. conventional wisdom holds that such ability of memorials to preserve and events often have substantial political, communicate memory and history is As a general issue, the challenge of dea- social, and economic effects on states. invaluable in the process. ling with any historical injustice touches on a wide range of deeply contested yet It has been argued that states are among Pierre Nora has argued that material sites essential concepts in contemporary the most prolific killers; this reflects the of memory can become more about the political philosophy, among them; nature fact that assertions of state power are production of history than the preser- of justice, rights and responsibility. It is necessary factors in the establishment of vation of memory; distinguishing however, ultimately true that truth social order. The elites holding power in a between the two where memory ‘remains commissions do in no way give definite state often use killing to maintain their in permanent evolution, open to the answers to those yearning for the actual political authority and use the lethal dialectic of remembering and forgetting’ things as they happened, but will be able power of the state to do so. The range of while history is ‘the reconstruction, to identify those that are considered killings undertaken by such despotic always problematic and incomplete, of historical injustices and will try as much regimes include; execution, war, mas- what is no longer’.6 The construction of as possible to deal with the subject of sacres, and genocide. Such killings occur memorials, monuments, public holidays truth and answer the following questions; in a unique context in which killing may and special days may allow re-remem- How much normative weight should we become bureaucratized. Salient sociolo- bering. Memorials can only fulfil their role give to the past in deliberations about gical issues include the nature of if they have some meaning to society, what we owe to each other? Which histo- nationalism, the capacity of the state to allowing the transfer of memory through rical injustice matters and why? To whom legitimate killing, and the creation of active processes of remembrance such as 8 are reparations owed (if any)? Who command killers. However, why do intended visits to, and engagement with should pay them? What form of repa- assassinations occur especially in develo- them. While the Kenyan state may be ration? Understanding and dealing with ping countries? applauded on the facilitation of the exis- moral consequences of the past is one of ting monuments and national holidays, it In a paper titled: Why Kill Politicians? the most important political issue of our 9 is still not sufficient enough to sustain Bruno S. Frey developed a model of time, and yet also the most intractable. such memories. analysis on what he calls ‘the Demand to In fact, in matters of theorisation of Assassinate Politicians’. He identified In this regard, therefore, historical review transitional justice, contributions from different motivations for launching an of political assassinations and extra- historians have always been conspicuous assassination. One, is to achieve political judicial killings in Kenya will to a large 10 11 in their absence as Hannah Franzki argues change or as Schumpeter and Downs extent, ameliorate social and political …if anything, the ‘turn to history’ of supports: to survive in elections; the dilemmas that has shrouded and become societies wishing to come to terms with second, is pegged on the premises that part of the continent’s institutional their violent past is perceived as an the expected effect on policy is larger architecture. However, the path from encroachment on or a distortion of when there is one politician in charge than CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 96 if the policy is determined by a committee instance, the sudden and unexpected punctuated most political regimes; Egypt, of (equal) politicians. This person, Frey murder of a head of state or high-ranking historically, has had the most assas- argues, it may be a King, a President or a official would not only interfere with a sinations at 16, followed by South Africa Prime Minister, plays a prominent role and nation's political effectiveness, but also (12), Algeria (11) and Nigeria at 10. has some unrestricted room to act promulgates terror and unrest within a Exemplified below are some of the most according to his or her preferences. He or government.13 Most significantly, assas- prominent assassinations committed in she therefore becomes the object of sinations and attempts to assassinate Africa since attainment of independence dislike or hatred by a number of indivi- often disturb or change the focus of of States more than 50 years ago. Congo- duals some of which may exert a demand domestic and foreign policy within a nation. lese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, a for killing the ruler. However, assassina- Today, the International law differentiates pro-communist was assassinated in 1961, tion may also occur when there is no well- between state-sponsored and non- state- while Sylvanus Olympio, leader of Togo determined succession rule. Again in a sponsored assassinations.14 When an was killed in 1963. Hendrik Verwoed, the centrally planned economy, and in a assassination is committed by a group society without well-developed civil units Prime Minister of South Africa was that is not linked with a government or by -such as independent trade unions, stabbed to death in Parliament in 1966 and an individual acting alone, it is not state- churches and private clubs-there is a in the same year, Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi sponsored. There have been many well- stronger incentive to kill the ruler. who was Nigeria’s military Head of State known assassinations of this type and the Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Assassinations can also occur in a more throughout history. Assassinations that Tafawa Balewa were exterminated in fractionalized a society, for instance, the are not backed by states are usually bloody military coups. more distinctive ethnicities and religions treated as murders in the nations where there are, the more their interests differ, they occur. Because no state is answe- In the 1970s, political murders continued and the more aggressive they are, the rable, they usually do not infringe upon with the murder of Ugandan Chief Justice more difficult it is for a ruler to satisfy the international law.15 Except in the case Benedicto Kiwanuka in 1972 and that of their preferences, and the more likely he of international criminal law, only states the Archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum 19 or she will be attacked. It can also occur can be held accountable for violating in 1977. Steve Biko, South Africa’s anti- where there is a strong international international law.16 apartheid crusader was battered to death engagement of a country extends the by would be law custodians in police Assassinations generally reflect a viola- borders of influence of national politicians custody in 1974, while Francois tion of the international law against and therewith makes the ruler more Tombalbaye, the President of Chad, treachery in war or aggression in times of involved in fractional strife. As a result followed suit a year later. In Nigeria, peace.17 Further, it is possible, although the demand to assassinate the ruler is President Murtala Mohammed could not less likely, that individuals or groups of larger. Finally, assassinations at some escape the assassin’s bullet in 1976. individuals accused of assassination extreme cases may be executed to attract could be held responsible for committing Liberian President William Tolbert Jr led media attention by the would-be assas- genocide or crimes against humanity. the list of those assassinated in the 1980s sins camouflaged as hired mercenaries. Assassination could therefore rise to the when he was gunned down during the Assassinations in Africa have been em- level of a crime against humanity only if it 1980 military coup. Pragmatic Egyptian ployed as a political tool since indepen- was part of a systematic or prevalent pattern President Anwar Sadat was shot during a dence, marking, altering, or determining of attacks against a civilian population. military parade in 1981, while in 1987, the course of events through modern Burkina Faso Head of State Thomas In Kenya, Tom Mboya’s assassination African History. It has been said that Sankara succumbed to the bullet. can rightly be viewed as a classic terror and assassinations is the mains- country's root of evil manifested in that While multipartism swept throughout pring of despotic government. Even in in less than a decade after independence, Africa following the disintegration of contemporary times, the sins of assass- it became a stumbling block to the ideals Eastern Europe in the 1990s political ination and its forms continue to plague of national unity, economic independence murders were still an eyesore in Africa. most countries. In addition, acts of and pan-African solidarity that Mboya Rifaat al-Mahgoub, speaker of the violence, such as ethnic tensions and had championed, as well as a shattering Egyptian parliament in 1990 was the first coup de tats, executions, and civil wars, blow to the hopes of millions of Kenya casualty while Samuel Doe, the President have continued to haunt societies and for freedom and material prosperity. of Liberia could not be spared of the ritual political systems in the twenty first the same year. Chris Hani, the leader of century Africa. No matter how we look at it, the mere threat South African Communist Party could not of assassination has always played a survive to witness a rainbow state as he Apart from affecting or killing the victim, pivotal role in the history of human was eliminated in 1993, while the sky was assassinations have direct consequences politics. It has also had a profound socio- never to be the limit for Rwandese Presi- upon critical social-economic and political economic impact upon all nations. Today, dent Juvenal Habyarimana in power as institutions and the targeted individual political leaders all over the world are the plane carrying him was brought down nation as a whole.12 As studied and routinely protected from motivated and in pieces in 1994. Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, expounded by political theory and opportunistic assassins. Nations adapt to President of Niger was equally vanquished history, assassinations and assassination this threat by implementing defensive in 1999 but the shooting of Congolese attempts of critical political personalities strategies, which require the expenditure President Laurent Kabila in 2001 by his have far-reaching political and societal 18 of time, effort, and resources. In sum, own body guards was utterly shocking. consequences and repercussions. For political assassinations in Africa have The list could go on.20 CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 97

In the wider East Africa, however, Kenya weeding ambitious politicians, perceived Research Center For Economics, Mana- seems to be the most assassination happy "dissidents" of the government or those gement and The Arts, May, 2007 who posed as "threats" to power, state nation with less than 10 major political 10. Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socia- involvement and subsequent cover ups murders, while Burundi three Prime lism and Democracy. New York: Harper, using decoys in a well-oiled and preme- Ministers were assassinated; Louis 1942. Rwangasore (1961), Pierre Ngendandumwe ditated assassination machinery have (1965) and Joseph Bamina (1965). Uganda been employed in the majority of political 11. Downs, Anthony, An Economic Theory of has had two assassinations during the murders. Propaganda and Commissions Democracy. New York: Harper and Row, dictatorial regime of Idi Amin though in of Enquiry are often used as smoke- 1957. his book State of Blood Henry Kyemba screens to get into "the bottom of the 12. Anderson, Chris A."Assassination, Lawful who was trusted Minister in the regime matter," but are nothing more than public Homicide, and the Butcher of puts the figure at 150, while Tanzania has relations exercises to mask the motives Baghdad." Journal of Public Law and recorded only one assassination, the 1972 and faces behind the assassinations. Policy 13:291, 1992. murder of the first President of Zanzibar Prominent figures in government are 13. Beres, Louis R. (1992). "The Permissibility and first Vice President of Tanzania, normally involved. Key witnesses into the of State Sponsored Assassination during Sheikh Abeid Karume. assassinations disappear or die myste- riously. No real perpetrators, for that Peace and War." Temple International and Kenya has had six major political assassi- reason, have ever been brought to book Comparative Law Journal 5: 231. nations the most prominent being the and majority of those found guilty were 14. Heaps, Willard A, 1969. Assassination: A murders of Pio Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya, only scapegoats of the regime and the Special Kind of Murder. New York: Meredith J. M. Kariuki, Bruce MacKenzie, Robert security system which is extensively used Press. Ouko, and Crispin Odhiambo Mbai. The in most of the political assassinations. sequential cases of political assassination 15. Wiebe, Mathew C. (2003). "Assassination in Domestic and International Law: The in Kenya as well as the mysterious circu- Notes mstances in which they have occurred Central Intelligence Agency, State- 1. W. Soyinka, ‘The scars of memory and the have put the country in a turbulent Sponsored Terrorism, and the Right of Self- scales of justice’. Olof Palme Memorial situation. The inconclusive state in which Defense." Tulsa Journal of Comparative Lecture, Taylor Institution, University of they have remained and the ‘bloody’ and International Law 11:363. Oxford, 16 November, 2000. political war that emerged in some part of 16. The United Nations Charter prohibits the the country, heightening particularly the 2. Cf. E.P Thompson, The Making of the aggressive use of force by one state against contest between the Luo and Kikuyu English Working Class (New York, 1968), another. The Charter also prohibits have turned the Kenya political terrain into p. 12, Emphasis is mine. interfering in the territory or affairs of a boiling cauldron, where the nation is 3. David Thelen, "Memory and American another state. Chapter I of the Charter often but rudely awoken to the news of History," Journal of American History vol. requires that all states must "settle their 21 yet another conflict. 75 (1989): 1118. international disputes by peaceful means" and must "refrain in their international 4. See also, John Gillis, "Memory and Identity: Conclusion relations from the threat or use of force". The History of a Relationship" in Comme- When a state sponsors the assassination of Since independence, successive regimes morations, ed. John Gillis (Princeton: the leader of another state, it violates this have employed political assassinations Princeton University Press, 1994), 7. and state sponsored killings to silence basic rule of international law. For further those with dissenting views and entrench 5. Editorial, Sunday Nation, 25 March 2007. details of this read for example, Wiebe, themselves into leadership and further Also in Patrick Gathara, ‘The British War Mathew C. (2003). "Assassination in silence the masses. Viewed in the lens of in Kenya’, The New Black Magazine, 31 Domestic and International Law: The modern Kenya, these killings have raised July 2007. Available Central Intelligence Agency, State- sentiments of repugnance and maddening 6. Pierre Nora (1989) ‘Between Memory and Sponsored Terrorism, and the Right of Self- bust of indignation. To a country living History: Les Lieux de Memoire’, Represen- Defense." Tulsa Journal of Comparative under a law-abiding and ultra-human tations (26): 7-24, 8. For a fuller discussion, and International Law 11:363. government, there is certainly something see David Goldsworthy, Tom Mboya: The 17. Wiebe, Mathew, Ibid, See also Zengel, Patricia repugnant in the conduct of leaders who Man Kenya Wanted to Forget (New York: (1992). "Assassination and the Law of Armed being bound to afford protection, allow Africana Publishing Co., 1982). p.229. Conflict."Mercer Law Revue 43:615. such to occur; a replica of the worst 7. Hannah Franzki, Challenging the Politics 18. Ronald F. White, ‘3 General Theory of dictatorial government of our next door of Time in Transitional Justice – How to Assassination’ in Assassination Research neighbour Idi Amin whose state spon- Think the Irrevocable: Bevernage’s History, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2007. p.3. sored gangs-State Research Bureau Memory, and State-Sponsored Violence in 19. U.S. Department of State, 2012. massacred thousands of Ugandans both Theory & Event, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2012 professionals and civilians who were 20. For a more profound study of immediate perceived to be a threat to the despotic 8. Tony Waters, When Killing Is a Crime, Boulder, USA, 2007, p. 18 post-colonial independence assassination, regime. see for example, Ali A. Mazrui, Thoughts 9. Bruno S. Frey, Why Kill Politicians? A While motives have varied; from expe- on Assassination in Africa in Political Rational Choice Analysis Of Political diency of punishing certain crimes, Science Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 1 (Mar., Assassinations, Working Paper No. 324, getting rid of political competition, 1968), pp. 40-58, University Of Zurich And CREMA – CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 98

21. See for example, John O. Oucho, pays attention to the long history of Luo- Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Undercurrents of Ethnic Conflict in Kenya. kikuyu conflict. For a wider debate on the www.irinnews.org and Stewart, Frances. 3/ This book analyses the ethnic conflict in rift between the Luo and Kikuyo, see also 2008. "Kenya, Horizontal Inequalities and Rift Valley Province in the nineties at the Ayodo, Awuor. 1996. "Luo." The Heritage the Political Disturbances of 2008." Centre end of cold war and when multi-party Library of African Peoples. New York: Rosen for Research on Inequality, Human Security democratic politics were being reintroduced Publishing Group, Inc. 15-16; DuPre, Carole and Ethnicity. Department of International in the country. Its central thesis is that ethnic E. 1968. The Luo of Kenya. Washington, Development, Oxford University. http:// conflict in the country then was a function DC: Institute for Cross-Cultrual Research; www.crise.ox.ac.uk/copy/ of several issues, among them IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Kenya%20note%20for%20discussion.pdf, ethnocentrism. The author particularly Network): United Nations Office for the accessed 20/02/13

The Human Project and the Temptations of Religion

The world in which we live today is highly influential in places like Brazil and impacted on by many conflicts involving Lansana Keita Cuba in the Western Hemisphere. religion. Much of this religious conflict is Kwara State University But what is of specific interest for this taking place on the African continent Nigeria paper is the fact that there developed a which is an obvious cause for concern. specific branch of god worship that was In this regard consider the conflicts that monkey , and the tiger were designated strictly monotheistic according to which erupted in Central African Republic, as sacred. As time progressed, the votary the sole god was imbued with infinite Nigeria, Mali, Somalia, Algeria, Egypt, objects were anthropomorphised as they power and an infinite moral scope that Libya, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Kenya, etc. acquired human characteristics. They was directly and indirectly ‘goodness Since we live in a supposedly scientific became gods and goddesses and, oriented’. Reference here is to Abrahamic age with its concomitant secularism, this although residing in other realms, religions of Judaism, Christianity, and would seem a bit surprising. According managed and controlled human affairs. Islam that are adhered to by the majority to prominent theorists in the history of Ancient Egyptian and Greeks gods are of of the world’s population. There was a anthropology such as Emile Durkheim this category. The endpoint of all of this precursor to this form of deity in the (1915), James Frazer (1890, 1922), Lucien was that as knowledge of the empirical monotheistic religion of the Ancient Levy-Bruhl (1923), E.E. Evans Pritchard world grew, agency in matters involving Egyptian heretic pharaoh, Akhenaten. (1937), Levy Strauss (1966), et al., human causality was ascribed increasingly less The founder of psychiatry, Sigmund history is characterised by increases in to anthropomorphised deities but to Freud (1939) argued in Moses and human technological and scientific humans themselves. Humans became the Monotheism that the monotheistic advancement through the ages. For measure of all things for many thinkers concept of the Jews was adopted from example, it is common knowledge that and less reliance was placed on the Akhenaten’s heretical formulation of a human technology improved its scope invented deities. But only a minority of single deity. And it was this possibly through the successive stages of the humans have attained this stage of adapted monotheistic religion of the West Lithic (Stone) Age, the Bronze Age, and cognitive development. Religious belief Asian Hebrews (Jews) that set a large the Iron Age. At the same time, according still holds sway for the vast majority of portion of the world on the path towards to the anthropologists mentioned above, the world’s population. monotheism. The initial Hebrew narrative human cultures have gone through from Moses to Christ was later adapted successive cognitive stages according to But continuing with the issue of the to the Arabian culture of West Asia. Yet which the first stage was the age of evolution of human metaphysical there are other notable metaphysical reliance on magical thinking whereby thinking, in this instance religious systems that hold sway over a significant humans in their attempts to explain thinking, one notes that for most of portion of humanity. They are the Asian phenomena imbued inanimate objects human anthropological history humans metaphysical systems: Hinduism and with animistic powers. Thus, rocks, trees, were disposed to create their gods in Buddhism. One interesting feature about rivers, etc. all were seen to exercise polytheistic fashion, There was always a them is that there is no ultimate finality conscious powers over humans who in chief god but there were other gods who for the living human individual given that turn became their votaries and engaged were seen to be occupied with specific physical finality is rescued through the in regular ritual practices including aspects of human existence. Another concepts of reincarnation and karma. The sacrifices meant to appease and adulate aspect of note concerning human-created human body dies but its spriritual them. Such sacrifices often involved the gods is that they were not perceived as doppelganger lives on to enter another ritual slaughter of animals and the beings of moral perfection. They were newly born individual. The life fortunes sacrificial killing of humans. powerful and influential but not morally perfect. Apart from Ancient Egypt, the of the newly born would then be But despite the fact that certain animals case of the Yoruba of West Africa is inte- determined by moral debits and credits of were being sacrificed some acquired the resting in that one has here a polytheistic the soul’s previous life. Buddhism status of being sacred as in the case of culture with a transcon-tinental reach in maintains both reincarnation and karma Indian Hinduism, where the cow, the the sense that the Yoruba deities are but in the context of an evolving CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 99 consciousness which is distinct from the this lack of circumspection that leads to deny of course that scientists – especially original human form of Hinduism. But the unreflective behaviour that brings theoretical physicists – have been most noteworthy characteristic of both violence, pain, and grief to many humans. attempting to answer the ultimate ‘why’ metaphysical systems as religions is that question, as in the case of Hawking(2010) Humans, as sensory beings existing in a there is no single deity endowed with as the latest popular example of such. Yet world of empirically sensed phenomena, infinite physical and moral powers. In this even though such explanations offer place great store by truth, i.e., the actual regard both metaphysical religious ‘theories of everything’ they do not state of affairs. It is for this reason that systems are quite distinct from the answer the metaphysical questions of science has gained in ascendancy. Its Abrahamic religions according to which ultimate cause in terms of the ‘why’ truth claims can be readily confirmed or a single deity holds total sway. question. One popular question of this refuted. Theorist of scientific metho- nature is ‘why is there not nothing’ The most interesting characteristic of the dology, Carl Popper, argued effectively instead of the existence of phenomena. Abrahamic deity is that he is male and that what endows a scientific theory with One possible answer is that it is impos- deemed to be not only infinitely powerful its cognitive tenor is its capacity to sible that there could ever be nothing but also infinitely ‘good’ in the strictly withstand regular and increasingly robust since nothing, by definition, is an identi- normative sense of that term. The tests which could prove it falsified. This fiable something. The cognate argument directions offered to humans by this deity explains the fact that scientific claims that is that if phenomena exist they must exist are relayed to the adherents by chosen were once taken as valid and sound but for a purpose. individuals named ‘prophets’ who are were subsequently shown to be false then assigned special status by the abound in the annals of science. Still, on It is at this point that metaphysical adherents themselves. What is of crucial account of its successes, science has systems enter the picture often in the importance in the monotheistic paradigm proven to be a great epistemological guise of religious theory. The basic claim is that the belief in the whole narrative is temptress on the basis of its effective is that full explanatory knowledge of the determined by faith, thus the truth claims empirical yield. Similarly, the temptations universe cannot be obtained through that constitute the narrative are not of religion abound on account of its faith- empirical investigation but only through subject to doubt. Empirical and causal bound temptations. But yet, faith like a posit that an extrasensory conscious- proof that is required of the natural science needs an auditor. If not, peace ness endowed with cognitive and moral sciences does not apply in this case. will be perpetually threatened as the sensibilities is the ultimate agent and Credo quia credo serves as the bulwark historically numerous wars based on cause of all phenomena. The monotheistic against any epistemological query. This religious identity demonstrate. Africa is Abrahamic religions are clear on this characteristic of the monotheistic immensely and unfortunately plagued by matter. Everything is explained by way of paradigm facilitates its totalising ontology. this phenomenon in present times. the consciousness of this ultimate arbiter. The monotheistic faiths – unlike empirical But the posit goes beyond this with In all this, what then is the human project? science – offer a complete explanation of respect to the Abrahamic religions. Only On account of the fact that humans have all phenomena in time and in space under certain chosen individuals can have been biologically equipped with a central the holistic supervision of the all powerful access to the knowledge and moral nervous system unique among nature’s deity, the ultimate arbiter and controller principles promulgated by the ultimate biological creatures, it would seem of all events and phenomena. That is the arbiter. Such knowledge is epistemolo- incumbent on them to optimise their version of truth accepted on faith by the gically insulated and beyond the reach of efforts to get an understanding of the faithful. Empirical science founded on critical analysis. Adherents to the universe in which they live. This has been experiment and critical analysis cannot particular faiths and their own subjective the case at two levels: the empirical level rival this ontological structure of belief beliefs are then premised on faith or belief and the metaphysical level. The history because science accepts the fact that qua belief. But there is a problematic with of humankind is characterised by knowledge is fallible and that there is no this confident foundationalism. It has attempts to increase knowledge of the provable theory of everything. Thus the ultimately led to dogmatic beliefs that workings of the empirical world for monotheistic religions continue to be ultimately produce contentious secta- survival purposes. This was the basis for dominant on account of the epistemo- rianism. Consider the multiplicity of the improvements in human technology logical limitations of even holistic scien- interpretations that one finds in Christian and the foundations of empirical science. tific theories. In fact, totalising attempts monotheism. Such sectarianism also exist Certain regularities in nature in terms of to understand the world under the rubric in Judaism and Islam but to a lesser degree. cause and effect were observed and such of science have been condemned on the became the later basis for the establish- But there is sectarianism in other forms of basis of promoting what is called scientism. ment of scientific laws. But empirical human knowledge and such could take Yet no such caveats exist regarding the knowledge though testable would not be on disputatious forms especially when faithful of the monotheistic religions. The enough for full cognitive satisfaction. human ideological interests are involved. term religion derives etymologically, as Empirical knowledge understood in terms In the natural sciences, for example, extant many sources claim, from the Latin verb of cause and effect could offer answers theories are always being improved on or ‘ligare’ which means to bind. In other to ‘process questions’, that is, to ques- challenged. In the case of theoretical words, religions bind their adherents to tions asking how phenomena occur but physics there are a number of theories belief systems based on an unalloyed such knowledge was ill-equipped to competing for dominance. Kuhn’s popular faith. In this regard, there are many among explain the ultimate meaning and signi- text, The Structure of Scientific the faithful who act with utmost confi- ficance of phenomena, in other words, the Revolutions (1961) testifies to this. dence on the dictates of their faith. It is ultimate ‘why’ questions. This is not to Normal science punctuated by revolu- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 3 & 4, 2015 Page 100

tionary science is the rule as natural and were theorists who claimed to have empirical science has not addressed fully. biological science wend their way forward mustered adequate empirical evidence to The first issue concerns human mortality. as they seek to increase the stock of show that both economic theories were Human self consciousness is so advanced human knowledge of the empirical world. false. But the issue here is that there were that humans are the only living organisms There are often theoretical disputes always grounds for saving the proposed that can ponder their own ultimate bordering on human and ideological theories given that parametric boundary mortality. The Abrahamic religions answer interests as was the case concerning conditions were not fixed. The fact is that this issue with the promise of an AIDS research. Peter Duesberg, a theo- the social sciences do not lend them- everlasting hereafter. The second issue retical chemist of much repute suggested selves to strict experimental conditions concerns the purpose and meaning of alternative explanations for the relation- as in the natural sciences. But regardless existence. Theoretical and empirical ship between the HIV virus and AIDS and of those constraints there was still the science is not equipped to deal with the was practically ostracised from his basis for the refutation of existing theories issue of the ultimate purpose and meaning scientific community as a result. He was in both ideologically supported areas. of existent phenomena, especially the labeled an ‘AIDS denialist’ and effectively In the area of faith-based religious theory, purpose of human existence. For the became a persona non grata in his matters are somewhat different. The fact adherents of the Abrahamic religions the scientific community. And even before that the epistemic foundations of those issue of purpose and the ultimate signi- Duesberg there is the classic case of who believe on the basis of faith are ficance of phenomena is explained within Giodarno Bruno, an Italian 16th century assumed to exist in the metaphysical the content of the will of the Abrahamic polymath who was immolated at the stake realm insulates such beliefs from critical deity, the conscious and moral arbiter of for promoting heretical beliefs including evaluation based on empiricist criteria. all things. In this regard the cognitive gap the heliocentric theory which ran counter Thus, beliefs based on religious foun- afforded by the limitations of science and to the dogmatic theological belief that the dations, when firmly held, are held on the secular knowledge is filled by the universe was a geocentric one. basis of faith. The problematic here is that metaphysical content of religion believed It would seem however that the major agents whose beliefs derive from an purely on the basis of faith. Thus the determinant of dogmatic faith in any epistemic faith are absolutely convinced human mind is tempted by religion to lend particular human ideology is that that relevant actions are fully justified purpose and significance to human concerning human interests. Wherever since doubt is not countenanced. It is on existence, and especially so for those who human material and intellectual interests this basis that beliefs based on such argue that there are two forms of belief. are threatened, the default position cognitive security without any scintilla One form is based on belief based on becomes an increased dogmatic faith in of doubt or circumspection can often be evidence supported by causality; the the received doctrine. This is indeed the an epistemic temptation to humans as other is based on evidence supported case in the social sciences. Consider the agents. Once cognitive structures are set mainly on faith. The cognitively case of the fierce ideological struggles in place on the basis of early conditioning insulating idea here is that epistemology between those theorists who sought to or psychological needs, cognitive which plays such an important role in promote their own interpretations of how probings based on epistemological auditing material evidence and causality to put into practice state structures analysis and strict logical analysis would is rendered otiose in this instance. The following Marx’s critique of capitalism. not, in most cases, be successful. The temptation is there but can one Take the case of the Soviet Union where psychological payoffs are much too legitimately bifurcate the thinking the struggle between those who followed rewarding for old beliefs to be so easily attributes of the human mind in that way? Stalin’s brand of communism and those jettisoned. The question is under what who followed Trotsky eventually led to conditions could Cartesian doubt be References the murder of Trotsky. But the much more created? Matters are compounded by the Durkheim, E., 1915, The Elementary Forms of fierce ideological struggle took place assumption that the Abrahamic deity is Religious Life, London: Allen and Unwin. between the West and the Communist "all good" and his actions are optimal for Evans-Pritchard, E.E., 1937, Witchcraft, Oracles world from 1917 to 1991 when the Soviet all of mankind. But there is the perennial and Magic Among the Azande, Oxford: Union was dismantled and was replaced question of how to explain what many call Clarendon Press. by Russia. In this ideological struggle both ‘evil events’ taking place in a world sides assumed theoretical and empirical governed by a benevolent deity. That is Frazer, J., 1890, 1922, The Golden Bough, New certitude regardless of what the empirical the eternal question that theodicy York: Macmillan. facts demonstrated. grapples with in perpetuity. Freud, S., 1939, Moses and Monotheism, New But the saving grace here for knowledge Despite the rise of empirical science over York: Knopf Doubleday. was that both social science ideologies the last five centuries, the vast majority Hawking, S., 2010, The Grand Design, New of free market capitalism and the command of the world’s populations base their York: Bantam Books. economy system of communism both holistic belief structures on foundations Kuhn, T., 1962, The Structure of Scientific operated in the context of the material that are diametrically opposed to those Revolutions, Chicago: The University of world. Hence their constituent claims of a much more effective empirical science. Chicago Press. could be falsified according to the The issue here is that empirical science is principle of falsifiability. This principle incomplete in its findings and has not Levi-Strauss, C., 1966, The Savage Mind, works on the basis that a given claim is succeeded in establishing an empirically Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. proven false if adequate countervailing derived theory of everything. At the base Levy-Bruhl, L., 1923, Primitive Mentality, New evidence could be provided. Thus there of all these are two key issues which York: AMS Press.