How can education best honour UFH heroic alumni

On Monday the University of Fort Hare in Alice turns 100 years old. It is interesting to reflect that institutions such as this, that have been the cradles of so many trailblazers of the past century, were originally created to keep black people in check, not in fact to empower them through knowledge and experience.

To reflect on the honour-roll of luminaries who have been associated with Fort Hare over the decades, such as Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and ZK Mathews to name a few, fills one with immense pride.

It also serves as a powerful reminder of what a spectacular failure the apartheid project was in its institutionalised attempt to provide second rate education.

These luminaries and the many unsung heroes like them succeeded despite the best designs of the oppressors.

We celebrate Fort Hare’s centenary at a time when the question of access to education is once more at the top of the agenda.

The question we need to answer today is whether there are lessons from Fort Hare’s trajectory that can be applied to today’s challenges so that we can avoid making the mistakes of the past.

What kind of institution is needed today in order to carry on the great traditions of Fort Hare?

The university’s Vision 2030 sees the rehabilitation of a dilapidated campus, replacing facilities with by building a world class library, laboratories for scientific research and decent residences.

Realising this vision in order to restore the legacy of this fine institution requires huge capital.

The upgrading of the neighbouring community of Alice to attract students who, from a lifestyle perspective, would rather be in a urban university centres such as Rondebosch, Cape Town, will take some doing. Going forward fewer and fewer students will want to be confined to a bush college set up, far from decent recreational facilities.

This raises the question of how to undo the bush colleges of old and integrate universities into neighbouring towns or cities as part of stimulating local economic development.

But these are largely infrastructural issues, the focus should be on the core question – has Fort Hare evolved into a truly universal, yet proudly 21st century African university that can be trusted with liberating young minds?

How much have our universities’ curricula developed since 1994 and how are young people prepared for a post colonial reconstruction era?

For me, the real celebration of an institution like the University of Fort Hare lies in answering these questions.

My hope is that in executing Vision 2030, Fort Hare will obtain the financial support needed to build a lasting legacy that will truly honour the luminaries who walked the campus in the past.

On a different note, the question of free higher education is key matter for deliberation in the education dialogues Fort Hare will host to mark its centenary.

In this country valuable resources are wasted on graft and unnecessary projects, and in the process spending enough to ensure access to education is neglected.

This matter is serious as it defines the kind of future we can expect our young people to create.

Many of them may remain outside the higher education system because of a poor quality basic education, or because, despite obtaining a university pass, they find the cost of tertiary education prohibitive and so they must enter the job market prematurely.

The University of Fort Hare’s centenary is an opportunity for the entire higher education sector to take stock of its future so that those who once walked this path can have their legacy restored, and future generations can reap the rewards of true economic empowerment.

On another note, one must commend the national government for setting up an inter-ministerial committee to support these celebrations.

Very few events are often accorded the honour and privilege of having the Cabinet itself pay attention in such a detailed manner.

It is interesting also that this inter-ministerial intervention coincides with the task team set up to look into access to education, a move triggered by the #FeesMustFall campaign. Both of these interventions highlight the increasing urgency with which higher education is being viewed by the state.

One hopes they will result in the kind of action that brings lasting solutions to the problems affecting the sector.

The cycle of annual protests about the same old issue of disadvantaged students being denied access to universities is becoming exhausting.

I remember going back to our student days in 1993, it was almost guaranteed that universities, especially the historically black ones such as Fort Hare, the University of the Western Cape and the University of the North, would come to a standstill over fees at the start of every year. In those days it was called a campaign for a “moratorium on fee increases”.

In that sense, the #FeesMustFall campaign is actually nothing new, and here we are, 22 years into our democracy with no end in sight to this strife.

That said, the only way we can honour the memory of those who fought so hard for Fort Hare to exist for the good of the people, is to make decisive policy interventions and take subsequent action to have a lasting funding model, and not have to contend with annual patchwork remedies in this regard.

Onkgopotse JJ T Tabane is author of Let’s Talk Frankly: Letters to influential South Africans about the State of our Nation (Pan MacMillan) He is also a member of the University of the Western Cape council