In
today's Sunday Independent Mr Wally Mbhele, one of the influencial newspaper
editors in South Africa, published my letter as a response to UCT's Prof Tim
Crown article on August 7, notwithstanding very short version thereof. Here I
am publishing my original letter to Sunday Independent. Please, anyone who
knows Prof Tim Crowe send this to him.
Dear
Editor, Mr Mbhele.
UCT's
Emeritus Professoer Tim Crowe in his “Let’s ask the hard questions and build
UCT together”, August 07, 2016. Makes many claims about Prof Mangcu’s article
which appeared in this paper on July 31. Prof Crowe makes a claim that Prof
Mangcu “…continues with his practice of maligning unidentified racists based on
their undocumented racists acts.” This alone makes Prof Crowe a racist
denialist in the same line with Holocaust denialist.
I am not
sure whether to call Prof Crowe arrogant or ignorant. Well, he has already
stated that he is a retired UCT Professor and he is an active alumina of UCT.
It is safe to say that Prof Crowe is no longer aware about what is happening at
UCT now now that he is retired.
In the
following lines I am identifying the “unidentified” and I am documenting the
“undocumented” according to Prof Crowe. The names below are the names of White
Professors that Prof Mangcu has been writing about in relation to UCT's racism.
They are documented in his seven-page letter of “Grievance Against Nicoli
Nattrass” to Dr Max Price. I have the letter in my position, if Prof Crowe want
it or anyone else, I am willing to give it to them in the spirit of fight
against racism at UCT. I have a paper trail of e-mails in relation this matter
between Prof Mangcu and racist Prof Natrass. Equally, I am keen to give it away
to anyone who is interested. Just in case we need to let Prof Crowe know that
cases of racism have been documented. On the 2014-10-17, a UCT Black PhD
student who was making a proposal presentation was “shocked and upset” by the
insults from Prof Jeremy Seekings, the husband of Prof Natrass. In a letter to
Prof Ari Sitas the Head of Department of Sociology the student wrote “towards
the end of the presentation, after I had calmly and respectfully listened to
criticism from the panel and defended my work where appropriate, Professor
Jeremy Seekings began to belittle and attack me in an undignified fashion at
one point referring to me as a “whacko” which he later tried to deny by
pointing out that his exact words were “you would be whacko if…” a completely
disingenuous to be sure…”. If Prof Crowe wants this letter I will happy give it
to him. Acts of racism are documented but documents disappear within these
deeply racist institutional structures of UCT.
UCT’s
Professor Nicoli Nattrass resigns last Friday, 22 July 2016, as a Professor of
Sociology to join UCT’s Economics Department, the very Department that she came
from before joining Sociology. This comes after my Face Book status that I
wrote in June 21, 2016. Professor Nattrass is the wife of Professor Jeremy
Seekings who is also a Professor in Sociology Department at UCT. Prof Nattrass
and Prof Seekings, wife and husband, are both running the Centre for Social
Sciences Research in Sociology Department at UCT.
At UCT as
Black students we are forced to prove the “acts” of racism at the university.
Dr Max Price UCT’s VC said that the university is “not racist” but Black people
at UCT “experience acts of racism”. These two White Professor are part of UCT
White academics who were, and still are, opposed to #RhodesMustFall student movement, the renaming
of the buildings at UCT, removal of Rhodes Statue and are opposed total
transformation at UCT.
Currently,
Professor Nattrass is facing disciplinary hearing from UCT after a complaint
that was lodged by Professor Mancgu in relation to Prof Nattrass racism at the
Department of Sociology against Prof Mangcu. Prof Mangcu complaint comes after
Prof Nattrass, a colleague of Prof Mangcu at the Department, questioned and
instructed Prof Mangcu about his travelling to Harvard University after his
invitation from Harvard. Prof Nattrace asked Prof Mangcu when is he coming
back? Who will teach the students when he is away? And that Prof Mangcu must
come back within “four days” and thus “stay no longer than that”. What
authority does Prof Nattrass have over Prof Mangcu to have a right to ask such
questions? Notwithstanding that Prof Nattrass is no Head of Sociology, nor Dean
of the Faculty neither the VC of UCT. All this is part of the e-mails that were
made public to all the Department staff.
Professor
Nattrass and Professor Seekings, wife and husband, have a "special
contract" with UCT, because they are White Professors, that is, they teach
in UCT for a half a year and the other half they teach in Yale University.
There is no Black Professor, let alone wife and husband, have such a contract
in UCT. Prof Nattrass and Prof Seekings are racist Apartheid beneficiary. And
they sill benefit in the democratic post-Apartheid aprtheid south Africa
because they are White Professors. They run the Centre of Social Sciences
Research as a family affair. If they are away the Centre is closed and if they
are on campus it is open. “Most of the times they work from home” so says a
staffer at the Centre.
Prof
Nattrass is a living example of personal racism at UCT that informs
institutional racism at the university that Black people are subjected to
everyday.
Prof
Mangcu’s complaint is with Dr Max Price (VC), Prof S Klopper (DCV) and
Professor D Visser (DVC) all of them are UCT's White Administrators. They are assessing
a complaint by a Black Professor Xolela Mancgu, who is a number one UCT critic,
over a racist White Professor Nicoli Nattrass. Can a White Administration judge
against White Professor? In fact, the question is: Can White people committee
suicide for Black people to live?
This
comes at the back of the unresolved matter of one Professor David Benatar, Head
of Philosophy Department at UCT who insulted the Dean of Humanities Professor
Sakhela Buhlungu at the Faculty meeting by forcing the Dean, who is the chair
of the faculty meetings, to talk about how to stop usage of animal products in
the Departmental events such as meat. Prof Benatar argued that no one must eat
meat in the Departmental events because of the cruelty with which animals are
killed only to be eaten.
As
#RhodesMustFall activists, we have always knew that after the public spectacle
of the removal of Rhodes statue, after the political rhetoric from many camps,
we will have to face the day to day racism from White people who will force us
to reverse the gains of #RhodsMustFall student movement which is a
political project that seeks to confront White power using radical political
approaches. We are ready to fight White power all the way! #RhodesMustFall #FeesMustFall
No comments:
Post a Comment