The Narrow Ground: Critical Intellectual Work on South Africa Under Apartheid Rupert Taylor 7 ^ £T ? Introduction Some would argue that simply to reveal the injustices of apartheid and to morally reject it is to take a critical position. By such criteria many could be defined as having undertaken critical work. The issue however ,s not just to see what is wrong with apartheid. The issue is to answer the crucial question of how apartheid can be rendered l i b e r a t i on movement can concretely advance its TuZ T m e i w r -T be«™ the nTnl the people as an instrument of social emancipation. > forces arX>S l l th T h e s is on Feuerbach the point is not a P a r t h 6 id b ut t0 C h a n^e it. to this end theory must praCtlCe- S 0 c i al r e s e a r ch must be developed to serve Hence critical work must involve grasping the dynamics of social African society and connecting this to a genuine oft he listing social order. Properly conceived, theory e reduced to, or imposed on, the demands of the liberation rather critical theory-building must develop its own "a radical political posture without reliable more than insurrectionary art incapable of own success or failures".2 In the South African context an uncritical Marxist approach; as radical, is also a Western predicting this does n Mazrui hasa Webster who fought for the rights of the V apartheid on I May 1989. A few months prior "offered valuable comments on the final draft also grateful fnr the comments of Azhar Bham, •aftn of this < Vol 5 No 4 Rupert Taylor tradition and its uncritical invocation by African scholars reflects a form of residual intellectual dependence".3 Taking such a definition of critical work, in which theory is related to practice, it is evident that there is a dearth of such approaches; "little realistic analysis exists concerning appropriate political strategies and tactics".4 Why is this? To begin to provide some answers this article shows how the space for critical work has been, and is, narrowed by the force of societal constraints within South Africa. Given the structures of apartheid, critical black and white intellectual work is discussed in turn. In outline, it is argued that as far as blacks are concerned the central problems lie in the structures of educational inequality and the legislative constraints and repressive climate that hinders the development of black political organizations. For most whites the problems lie in a repressive research climate and a failure to see beyond their own circumscribed social milieux to develop an overall new synthesis of knowledge. Critical Black Intellectual Work: the restricted ground The lack of critical black intellectual work is primarily related to the fact that blacks in South Africa, due to apartheid, lack adequate access to higher education and institutional bases from which critical work can be developed. Specifically at university level the structures of apartheid restrict, the small number of black students who can benefit from higher education at the black 'universities', the type of education they receive at these institutions and access to the 'open' universities. Socio-economic circumstances also prevent many black students from attending university; lack of scholarships is one problem, another is that black students are often forced to seek employment, at the expense of higher education, to assist in family income. Beneath this level the black education system, which is denied adequate resources and autonomy from State control, serves primarily as a vehicle for the perpetuation of ruling class perspectives. As Mathonsi has shown this is achieved through such strategies as very high teacher-pupil ratios, control of the curriculum and inadequate provision of resources.5 Since the Soweto Uprising of 1976 black schooling (now under the Department of Education and Training) has become the target of concerted attack. Prior to the Extension of University Education Act (1959) higher education for black students was mainly offered at Fort Hare Vol5No4 1991 31 CRITICAL ARTS (originally a mission school) and the medical school at the Universityl of Natal. The University College of Fort Hare produced some of the| most prominent black intellectuals with a non-racial outlook. Before: 1960, 'The Fort' "was to an extent a microcosm of a non-racial society! in the heart of apartheid South Africa" 6. An atmosphere of political dissent and student activism did find room for expression. The 1955 i Report of the Fort Hare Commission, initiated to investigate the roots i of the protest that led to the closure of the College for several weeks f during 1955, noted the students' "obsession with the struggle for I liberation and with politics generally".7 However, with the University College of Fort Hare Transfer Act, the State moved to stifle the opposition and secure full control of the institution through the Bantu Education Department, correspondingly in 1960 eight staff members were dismissed and five resigned. Of the four new black 'university' colleges created by the Extension , of University Education Act (1959) the University of the North and the University of Zululand offer an extremely poor ground on which f independent and critical inquiry can be instilled and encouraged. Due to btate fear that higher education might raise the level of political consciousness the number of students at these 'universities' is not large and they are located in remote rural areas. They are subject to sweeping State control, "essentially political institutions, part of the program for harnessing education to apartheid".8 Ihese universities'may attempt to reproduce the hegemony of the dominant classes and fulfil the function of staffing the administrative apparatus of the 'homelands' but the contradiction between the exclusiveness of apartheid ideology and the universalistic values that *? m the liberal arts, has given black students a clearer Th Q+ * . 'm j u s t i c es of S o u th African society.9 .elm™ ta*fS mtention w*s to advance its programme of'separate ^elopment, the reality has been continued student activism and ^Uespite the controlled academic environment black critical M In the i O r l n Lf *' U r s a m z *^ I With t he r i se of B l a ck Consciousness, take place. f St8Ve B i k o' S A S0 (South African Students ^ ^ .^ Black ^^ ^ a nd ^ developed as an ideology of resistance that on from psychological oppression, the building of :he establishment of a new basic dignity, the of the history of tk 10 Voi5No4 Rupert Taylor The State reacted to the crisis of legitimacy in the black 'universities' by falling back on the use of physical force to maintain order at these institutions, they came to be closed for weeks and months at a time. Such repression has fed a never ending spiral of protest; in fact since June 1986 the University of the North has been permanently occupied by the police and the military.11 The cases of the University of Durban-Westville (for Indians) and University of the Western Cape (for coloureds) have come to present a different set of problems. In 1983, in the climate of the governments constitutional reforms, UD-W and UWC were granted institutional autonomy. Since this time they have moved away from the other black 'universities'; Jakes Gerwal, rector of UWC since 1987, proclaimed in his inaugural address that UWC should become "the intellectual home of the left".12 The possibilities for some positive interventions are however constrained by the present climate of State repression. There are limits to how far these 'universities' can go, they have already received threats of closure and of curbs in State funding. Besides, as Neville Alexander has observed, UWC cannot place itself "above and outside the arena of class struggle" whilst itself remaining an apartheid institution.13 The 'open' universities (Cape Town, Natal, Rhodes, Witwatersrand) are also part of the problem. They have a poor historical record with regard to admitting black students.14 This record is in part due to the restrictions of the Extension of University Education Act (1959) which dictated that blacks had to obtain the permission of the responsible Minister to attend. Even in the pre-1959 period "the door opened to blacks was never much more than half open"15 but after the Act black students found the door all but shut. In comparing the overall student numbers at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) for the years 1959 and 1979, it emerges that there was only an increase of 94 African students - from 113 to 207,16 access for black students had all the hallmarks of tokenism. Despite the rise of a more liberal ethos at the 'open' universities, as reflected in the strong opposition to the Extension of University Education Act and in the Vice-Chancellorships of Sir Richard Luyt at UCT and Ian D MacCrone at Wits, it is only since 1980, and especially after 1983 when most of the permit system was abolished, that black students have been admitted on any significant scale to the 'open' universities. By 1988 the black students at UCT and Wits constituted Vol5No4 1991 33 CRITICAL ARTS over 20% of the student body. It is in this context that the arguments for black advancement programmes at the 'open' universities appear compelling. SucbJ programmes would go some way towards providing a firmer structural basis for the growth of a pool of talented intellectuals (and particular concern could be directed to the postgraduate level in the social! sciences). But it is more than just a question of numbers. Whilst the 'open' universities may proclaim their neutrality they are quite clearly tied to the interests of capital and a specific value system; as Richard Turner wrote in The Eye of the Needle: 'Their pose , of virtuous academic neutrality in fact means that they are efficient ] servants of the existing interest structure"." area found In 1986 a survey of black community organizations in th* Fretona-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging that 92% of respondents saw Wits as "an institution that serves the needs of th<& white community" and almost 90% saw Wits as serving the needs ofi big business, w Views that are not surprising given the links betwee* the open universities and the structures of South African monopol/ capitalism. For example, Wits Council, which stands at the top of the! university s decision-making structures, is tied to the State and bigf usiness - with appointments to Council made by such bodies as the* fatete President and the Chamber of Mines. «•• Until 1989 there were nof - ?e b I a ck c c« n% on Wits Council. And as J Xlek"r "The imp TreUiat t he 1 9 86 R i c h a rd F e e t h a i" Memorial Lecture;} ne vut I United Democratic Front] has over 700 affiliates with a \ non ~L »of over 3 million. COSATU [Congress of South I mtbers S ^ h e Se orSanizations are represented in any f wayonl way on the rulmg bodies of the major universities of our country".2" through n p Tn U m v?r s i t i es a^o meet the needs of big business f U n C t i 0n of ^Producing educated labour to staff the S °rf "ng the inciasfd i rernd t0 Pr0Vide ^die-management, furtherm^ f w U d 6 nt r ePr e s e^ t i on can be seen as part of a t h et Z ^ Z Ie S t e m i Z ed bkck middIe daSS that haS a Stak ^ St r a Wt0 et than half a millio" Pa i d^ ^ ^ r is f u r t h er undermined if one considers the n a t u r e r f mir .l i ty Eurocentrkm Western values £ ,* > ™ t h at S e r v es networks of |f n nTJ°P 6n "niveraities are tied into internations if a C a d e m ic c u l t^« • for it is a culture dominated by a to Pr o m o te a nd ^^ °f ^wfedge; "The devising of curricula, setting of VOI5N0 4 Rupert Taylor examinations, methods of teaching, appointment of staff and the general philosophy of these institutions all bear the hallmark of Universities in Europe".21 Black academics and students have to integrate themselves into this value system - if they do not they are unlikely to succeed. The lack of black perspectives at the 'open' universities is not helped by the number of black academics and the hurdles facing aspiring black academics. There are few black academics; at Wits, for example, amongst the professorate in 1984, there were just two black professors and one black associate professor - in 1988, 93% of Wits academic staff were white. In academic appointments the institutional values of neutrality, objectivity and merit do not compensate for historical disadvantages, in any case most appointments are linked to national and to discriminate against 'outsiders'.2* Even if one can break into this network there may be 'post-compliance discrimination*23 and on at least one occasion the State has intervened to prevent appointments. Often, if appointed, black academics at the 'open' universities are marginalized. It is not unknown for black academics to be severely harassed; in one such case a black lecturer in Linguistics at Wits was subjected to extreme personal harassment, her office was ransacked and her car and home vandalized.24 international patronage networks that act Altogether the 'open' universities lack full social accountability, they do not fully reflect the interests of the wider society. Such grievances readily fuel demands for a movement away from the Western model of a university. There are demands that the 'open' universities should style themselves more on the African model25 and there have been demands for a 'free Black university' - as proposed by ESASO at their 1972 conference.26 Although there is considerable iebate over what exactly constitutes an African model, movement ;owards such a model would at least ensure that the specific needs of ;he black community were better accommodated and give blacks nfluence over university policy and student and staff intake.27 Given the way in which the 'open' universities serve the 'existing nterest structure' it is clear that their institutional environment is lot conducive to critical black academic inquiry, especially if we accept hat the dominant mainstream methodologies must be drastically iltered to fit the conditions of African societies. The result is that ritical black work is far more likely to be advanced outside of these nstitutions. 'ol5No4 1991 35 CRITICAL ARTS The scope for black critical work within South Africa lies withinf political organizations - AZAPO (Azanian People's Organization), t h| National Forum, the UDF, the trade union movement (COSATU) an«* of Sh Af « racicdly structured be a starting point of iJ^L^Slnthtse I SiSt6d by the reeent ««*wth of the Marxian, has play^^an Tn^Tf T- ^ ^ °f' -d exposure to, South AfricanafademL L S /f ? ** " Pa r t i c u^ through S e V e r al y e a FS °f s t u dy at overseas universities and returnL ^ t h e o r e* ^l baggage T ^1 and bright. This was espedaUvT new universities in Britain Zl %**** f°r t h°8e w ho attended the S"S s ex a nd Warwick). The growth of publishing outlets offered S rwick). Th ^^ *»* D a v id P h^ in South Africa, has p l a ^ ^t ^T ^^ *»* D a v id P h^ in V 6 ry m u eh a generational Phenomenon - being li n k ed ^ e f f e c ts « *e overall expansion of South African l a te 19^s and 1970s t he -Jd the radicalization S? Union of South African Students (NUSAS). a S u The debate concerning hberalism is one of wheth ^apxtalism, is t he the Marxian explaining t he " ^ m P e t i n§ m e r i ts of Ma™«™ a nd JPartheid is a problem of prejudice Mrk* o ne of race or class? themselves without problems ^m a nd r a««l domination echve factors *I i that through their emphaste J8 ^^ to t he significance factors. To date ^ f e T ^ I '8 g i v en to t he significance _ ^ ! ! l _ ^ e b a te h as tended towards ~ td tendd Vol5No4 1991 Rupert Taylor reductionism and each side has often presented a caricature of the other.39 It can be argued that instead of looking at the issue in either/or terms the debate should now give way to conceptualizing a clearer relationship between race and class. A conceptualization that needs to clarify the dynamic interplay between subjective and objective factors and that can be concretely connected to the pressing problems facing contemporary South Africa. The growth and contribution of the new school is important, but it needs to be much more firmly connected to present questions of strategy and tactics.40 "There is, as yet", John Rex has written, "little in the way of social science which begins from the goals of the African liberation movement and treats the distinction between Marxist and liberal as of secondary significance only".41 Beyond this debate, the restraints on doing critical work presents serious problems. The Suppression of Communism Act (1950), the Internal Security Act (1976) and recent Emergency Regulations have imposed severe limits on criticism of the State and there is the political censorship of the Publications Control Board. There is also a large degree of press censorship, many security trials and incidents are not reported in the South African press. Journalists are barred from the townships and 'unrest' situations. Every year foreign correspondents are forced to leave South Africa and many journalists have been detained. Under South African law, an individual may be subject to banning orders or detention. The banning of Richard Turner, a political science lecturer at Natal who played an important role in the black trade union movement in Durban and was a friend of Steve Biko, proved fatal - making him a target for right-wing forces. In 1978, he was shot dead through a side window of his house on going to answer the door in the middle of the night. Other academics who have been restricted include Raymond Hoffenberg of the University of Cape Town (whose banning led to a student protest march) and H J Simons - also of UCT (who left the country). At least two critical academics have been sentenced to long prison terms under the Suppression of Communism Act. A number of social scientists and others with an essentially social science perspective have been arrested and banned in connection with their ties to the black trade union movement. In 1982 Neil Aggett, a medical doctor known in trade union circles and arrested "for furthering the aims of the ANC", died while in custody of the Vol5No4 1991 39 CRITICAL ARTS Johannesburg security police after a 62 hour interrogation session. Police stated he was found hanged in his cell. An inquest held in the wake of international protests recorded his death as a result of suicide. The assassination of Wits anthropologist David Webster in May 1989 dramatically highlighted the dangers of critical engagement. Shot dead in the road outside his Johannesburg home, David Webster was involved in organizing support for many of those detained under the State of Emergency and in documenting State violation of human rights.42 It is suspected that the killing was the work of a secret death squad. Among the political books that are listed or banned those by ANC and SACP sympathizers and activists are prominent, as are many of the works of Marx, Lenin and Trotsky.43 Most of the South African authors whose books are banned are in exile. Very few intellectuals within South Africa presently have had a critical work banned - an important exception being prominent UDF member Raymond Suttner (who was recently released from two years in detention without trial, mostly spent in solitary confinement). The works of Ruth First, who was killed in Mozambique by a South African assassin's bomb in 1982, nave been banned. Many critical scholars have found that it is difficult to do in depth on-the-ground research in South Africa. Researchers may be denied the necessary permits to undertake work in the African 'homelands' a£d black urban areas; there is the reality of police and South African h a r a s s m e n t> ^ some cases research notes have been seized^ ***** &re n ot ™unnountable, but in a b 6 en a n 0 t a b le te*dency to play safe; ^ *"* t h 6° ^' d a b b l i nS with abstracted for a Post-apartheid f u t U re S C e n a r i 0S t h°Se W ho u se ^ difficultieVas an > 7 "T attemPtinS> C»«<*1 research. Although ^8"1*8 t h! S i l e n ce of m o st white intellectuals is C h°°S i n S' Outwardly State censorship T h in ' bUf aCC6SS t0 M a r a i st texts, for example, is preset di ^ ? rc t i te t0 g et a r 0 U n* constraint is the reluctance oft , T t he m» Nonetheless \ Z ? •m d m d u a ls *° attempt such research. Nonetheless the general institutional research climate is not one Vol5No4 Rupert Taylor that is conducive to critical work. Most significantly the research climate is constrained by the conservative bias of South African universities.45 In this setting there has emerged a bias towards researching safe topics and academics have moved towards adopting an apolitical technocratic managerial role in serving the interests of the top levels of society. Research is undertaken to meet the demands of important clients such as State departments and business corporations. The State, through such bodies as the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), which is one of the most important sources of funding for academics in the social sciences, tends to channel its funds into technocratic research. Controversial issues are avoided, most HSRC research reports in the field of sociology "are pedestrian documents concerned with such topics as the adaptation of Czechoslovakian immigrants into Pretoria, family planning practices, and the use of tobacco and alcohol in the South African population".46 Over the years the HSRC has faced a number of charges of bias. There is a clear over-representation of Afrikaners on the Council and in 1979, as a result of a cabinet decision, a national plan for research undertaken through the HSRC was established; under this plan funding for research into "areas of national concern" in line with P W Botha's 'total strategy' was given priority. At a more direct level, following the Department of Information scandal in 1978-79, secret funding of three university research institutes was revealed. In these respects it is clear that established academic institutions do not encourage critical work. It is not perhaps surprising then that most academics are silent on the pressing problems facing the black community; studies which employ an empirical analysis of such issues as social class, poverty, income and wealth distribution, race relations, educational opportunity and social mobility have been few, the attention given to progressive black social movements since the Soweto uprising slight. Hence some of the most insightful works on South Africa under apartheid have been written by those outside this climate, notably journalists and those in exile. In the wake of the impact of the 1973 Durban strikes there have industrial sociology. however been notable developments with Progressive industrial issues have been the concern of the Centre of Applied Social Studies (Natal) and the Institute of Industrial Vol5No4 1991 41 CRITICAL ARTS S C e n t r al role in ^e democratization and initiated the South African Labour h&V& b e en a r r e s t ed a nd banned blackl Even if white with critical m S U r g e nt S e c t i o ns <* the black community. f critical work will be a d t n td ideological function question of whete T for the difficult to achieve -search TL Conclusion work is narrow. As a result CPS important questions as "what n What are the transformations il What are the factors general J are the sources of oppodtfon £ existing strategies S ^S t subjected to critical analysis and advanced. Cor^equenSy £ S^ bod i fl f n e C e S S a r i Iy ^a r a n t ee °°me to Pr o v i de t h at academics can have sufficient is m ay be particularly f «>-entional overt and subtle, C r i t i c aI intellectual S P & C6 ? S t r U c t u r al Mmiis of reforms? g et a s k ed " s u ch s t r u c t u r e s? ^^ of interests and what lif'T ^ ™^tant.y the h^t a b on movement are not a l t e r n a t i ve ^^ategies are not T to d e^% and build a ^c r i s is in s°u th Vol5No4 1991 Rupert Taylor How then should the relationship between academics and the liberation movement correctly be seen? As Wolpe has argued "to arrive at an adequate approach the simple opposition between the autonomy of social research and its reduction to an ideological function must be abandoned'*19 - but even if, following Wolpe, an academic rejects value-free analysis and moves towards a collectively organized conception of social research in which the aims of the liberation movement provide the impetus for analysis, there is still the question of how exactly critical work should proceed. Here, properly conceived, critical theory-building must endeavour to clarify the relationship between theory and practice; to test the validity of existing strategies and tactics and to advance possible strategies and tactics which lead to meaningful social transformation. It dictates a sociological intervention that is capable of disclosing and furthering the protest potential of the liberation movement.50 In this the "theoretician and his [her] specific object are seen as forming a dynamic unity with the oppressed class, so that his [her] presentation of societal contradictions is not merely an expression of the concrete historical situation but also a force within it to stimulate change".51 In advancing such critical work one source would be to draw on the contribution of cultural Marxism - in particular the work of Touraine and Castells - to help uncover viable courses of action.52 Another source would be to look at the way in which connections between political priorities and social research have been made elsewhere in Africa. Such as the work of academics at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania who have been concerned to give such concepts as self-reliance and socialism concrete meaning. Or the work that has been encouraged by Frelimo at the Centro des Estudos Africanos, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique, a collective to advance socialist revolution in Mozambique and the liberation of Southern Africa. Further, there is a need to explore possibilities, to exploit the space, for critical work. Strategies for broadening the narrow ground need to be advanced. One possibility would be to promote greater inter-university contact between critical scholars, to build on the work of the Black Universities Working Group set up by ASSA in 1986 to investigate strategies for broadening the space for progressive work at the black 'universities'. Another possibility would be to more firmly facilitate a flow of critical scholars from the international academic community. Vol5No4 1991 CRITICAL ARTS This is one area which makes the case for a total academic boycott appear questionable, a position recognized by the ANC and UDF in recent policy demons which accept that an individual is not affected by the boycott if he or she is supported by the democratic movement in South Africa, is approved by overseas solidarity groups, and contributes to the advancement of the national democratic struggle and the building of a future South Africa.53 that lit as a aLund who the without its problems; one problem is approval may single an individual out forces, other problems exist appropriate to vet someone and over the way forward lies through University Staff Associations (UDUSA). aligned with the Mass Democratic H li " to ground must givethisneedanew JnToftginey Notes and References 1. 2. 3. 4. . 1972. "i?a