Commentary: Sustained and Sustainable Transformative Actions Can Deliver Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Universities

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intecritdivestud.4.2.0114
• Published date: 23 September 2022
• Date: 23 September 2022
• Pages: 114-118
• Author: Tawana Kupe

International Journal of CRITICAL DIVERSITY STUDIES 4.2 December 2021

Commentary: Sustained and Sustainable

Transformative Actions Can Deliver

Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive

Universities

Tawana Kupe

Vice-Chancellor’s Office, University of Pretoria

If the South African higher education sector were ever to be lulled into the notion that its

transformation has reached an advanced stage, it is soon jolted out of this by recurring

reports of incidents that are truly dismaying. The latest such incident concerns an allegation

of gross mistreatment of a black student at one of the country’s university residences in the

early hours of a Sunday morning in the middle of May.

At the time of writing this article, the details of what took place were still emerging, but

one thing was already abundantly clear: even as universities take one step forward in

addressing the inequalities of the past, they appear to collectively take two steps back every

time a racially motivated scandal or an incident of gender-based violence occurs on any of

their campuses.

To make matters worse, if that is possible, the kind of conduct we have seen happening

sporadically over the years, predominantly at historically advantaged institutions, diverts

attention away from the progress that is being made, however slowly and incrementally, in

the transformation of higher education in South Africa.

Transforming the higher education system has been a national priority since 1994. As a

microcosm of our society, the sector exhibits the exclusionism and is riddled with the ine-

qualities that have historically characterised South Africa. Given the importance of

universities in our society, both as generators of knowledge and skills and as potential cata-

lysts for social change, the transformation of higher education has been—and is—a

fundamental national and institutional imperative.

A number of transformation blueprints and initiatives to address underrepresentation

of black people and women have been undertaken, in the last two decades of democracy.

Over time, while the problem of underrepresentation has endured, new issues have emerged

including forms of discrimination like homophobia, xenophobia and religious intolerance.

There is also a realisation in the sector that forms of discrimination are intersectional and

maintaining gender binaries is problematic.

DOI:10.13169/INTECRIT DIVESTUD.4.2.0114