AfricanTowardsScholarship INAUGURATION OF THE CHANCELLOR AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL AfricanTowardsScholarship Contents 1 FOREWORD : professor dasarath chetty 2 ORATION : DR Frene NOSHIR GINWALA REMAKING THE AFRICAN UNIVERSITY 3 DR FRENE NOSHIR GINWALA 4 oration : professor MALEGAPURU WILLIAM MAKGOBA THE AFRICAN UNIVERSITY: Meaning, Penalties and Responsibilities 5 PROFESSOR MALEGAPURU WILLIAM MAKGOBA Editor : Professor Dasarath Chetty Produced by : Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, UKZN, First imprint : 30 September 2005 Design : AFROSPiCE ISBN : 0-620-35196-9 TOWARDS AFRICAN SCHOLARSHIP Foreword The Installation of both the first Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor Similarly, Professor M.W. Makgoba’s basic premise is that of the University of KwaZulu-Natal represents a historic and knowledge production is intimately related to historical, cultural significant event in the history of the University and the and geographical circumstances; that knowledge is produced community in which it is located. The significance of the as a result of a complex and dynamic interplay of societal, installation is clearly evident from the inaugural addresses political, historical and economics pressures. presented herein, providing a visionary trajectory for the University and higher education more generally. In posing the critical question of what does it mean to be an African University, Professor Makgoba follows the Chinua Dr. Frene Ginwala reflects on the broader transformation of Achebe injunction that African identity has a meaning, a penalty South African society over the past eleven years, and the role and a responsibility. It is the penalties of Colonial history, the of parliament in particular, showing how the transformation moral, intellectual and social responsibility of being an African of the University is really a microcosm of what has and is still University, and the need to locate ourselves contextually that being achieved at a societal level. In inheriting many foreign pose the immediate challenge - defining African identity in a traditions the task at hand is to determine which of these are manner that it becomes a constructive, unifying and enabling appropriate and ought to be continued in a new democratic force directed at the amelioration of the African and global ethos with values dramatically opposed to those dominant in condition. The Vice-Chancellor’s address also depicts how the the past. merger process has presented the opportunity for us to build the African University; it impels the University community to The Chancellor, encouraged by the University of KwaZulu- use the vision of the University of KwaZulu-Natal as its guiding Natal vision to be the Premier University of African Scholarship, compass; it reflects on the institutional achievements to date believes that the University needs to assist in locating us on that have laid the foundation stones of the African university, and of the African continent and that the University community and concludes with the concrete, critical challenges facing the needs to engage critically in debates with policy makers and institution in its quest to be the Premier University of African the broader public so as to contribute towards actively shaping Scholarship.. our common future; and not limit our role to post-event analyses especially because we are a publicly funded institution. Professor Dasarath Chetty She challenges the University community to redefine notions Executive Director of academic freedom, independence, interference and Public Affairs and Corporate Communications accountability in the quest to be responsive to societal imperatives. 2 TOWARDS AFRICAN SCHOLARSHIP Oration on the occasion of the Installation of the Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Frene Noshir Ginwala Chairman of Council, Dr Vincent Maphai, members of the decency such as treating people equally and with dignity were University Council, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Executive the principles which inspired and drove Dr Ginwala during the Management, Deans, members of staff, students of the University liberation battle and subsequently informed the many decisions of KwaZulu-Natal, both past and present and distinguished guests, that the Parliament she led, made. I have the honour to present Frene Noshir Ginwala to be installed as the first Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu- Under her leadership a previously cloistered institution has Natal. transformed to realise the constitutional ideal of participatory democracy. The colonial and apartheid décor, trappings and art The struggle for liberation was fought on many fronts, including of Parliament were jettisoned in favour of expression that the liberation of the mind. An entrenched and ossified repressive celebrates the diversity of the South African milieu. The expertise system of governance like apartheid could only have been that she brought to bear in her role as speaker of two successive defeated if visionaries dreamed about its demise and worked, terms in parliament was shaped by a lifetime of contribution to irrespective of the costs, toward the realisation of that dream. the liberation struggle. The young Frene, after obtaining an LLB This, in most instances, took immense strength of character, deep in England, returned to South Africa to assist in arranging for and profound courage and self sacrifice. Frene Noshir Ginwala ANC’s deputy president, Oliver Tambo, to leave South Africa had all of these qualities in abundance. Her commitment to the illegally to establish a base in a friendly African country. This was liberation struggle was absolute and unwavering. The liberated done in anticipation of the ANC being banned by the government South African nation, in acknowledgment of her contribution, of the time. requested her to be the speaker of the first democratically elected parliament. Under her stewardship, the first two After the Sharpville massacre and while making the necessary parliaments passed the Republic of South Africa Constitution arrangements with the Tanganyikan African National Union, she Act 108 of 1996 and some 800 pieces of legislation designed was requested by the ANC leadership to leave the country to deal with the legacy of colonialism and apartheid and to immediately. She left South Africa on March 22nd, 1960 and fundamentally restructure the society so as to improve the from Salisbury in Rhodesia, organised the escape of Oliver Tambo quality of life and free the potential of all persons within its and Yusuf Dadoo. borders. Thus universally acknowledged minimum norms of 3 TOWARDS AFRICAN SCHOLARSHIP The banning of the ANC in 1960, resulted in her remaining in by Frene Noshir Ginwala. Her work in the area of Human Rights exile for 31 years. Exile deprives one of the warmth and company was recognised the world over when she earned amongst others of community and of the bond with the land of one’s choice, the Order of Luthuli Award and in India the Global Award for but it does allow, largely out of necessity for the development outstanding contribution for the Promotion of Human Rights of new skills and expertise. Dr Ginwala is a person who fearlessly and Democracy. speaks her mind and challenges authority if the need exists and these qualities led her to expose injustices such as forced Chairman of Council, Dr Vincent Maphai, and the honoured marriages in Zanzibar, appalling prison conditions in Tanzania and assembly, I present Dr Frene Noshir Ginwala for installation as atrocities in Sudan. For her, the liberation of the South African the first Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. society, in all its manifestations, was tied to the liberation of Africa as a whole. Professor Suria Govender Associate Professor Her skills in communications as a lawyer, editor, freelance journalist School of Languages, Literature and Linguistics for the BBC and spokesperson for the ANC in the United Kingdom were further honed when she completed her doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford and she remains an International Honorary Fellow of Oxford today. She returned to Africa to work full time as head of the research unit in President Tambo’s office. She was highly respected for her research on nuclear weapons programmes, sanctions, and the arms and oil embargoes. More than thirty years later, Dr Ginwala returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC. As speaker of Parliament, she conceived and initiated the joint committee on the quality of life and the status of women which was vested with the power to consider and report on the impact on women of all legislation introduced in Parliament and monitor all international and domestic commitments made by the South African Government. As a founder member and first national convenor of the women’s national coalition and the leader of the parliamentary delegation to the Beijing Women’s Conference, she made a material contribution to the improvement of the status and protection of women in international law. She continues to dedicate herself to the attainment of substantive equality for women in this country and other parts of the world. Dr Ginwala contributed directly to the production of knowledge by her writings. Banoo and Nasserwanjee Sohrabji, raised their daughters, Frene and Korshed, in accordance with the tenets of the Zorastrian religion, which offers a scientific explanation of creation and of all existence and of the human being’s place within this creation. It focuses on one’s duties in life and these were