OPEN LETTER TO ALL BLACK PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 20 years later this is a reflection of how far we have gone in educating ourselves. In 1994 the Brother to Barney Pityana Sipho wrote a very interesting article Titled: Transformation of higher education in SA when I read its contents even now it still appears to be very recent. Although I may use my subject field when you read this letter, make an investigation or think about the field you happen to have graduated from and see if you can count blacks on it. Sipho Pityana in that article asserts that “we live in a country where we have the Minority (Whites) producing knowledge for the Majority (Blacks). This has rendered black people to become merely Consumers of knowledge only. He challenges higher learning institution to proactively take transformation very seriously in order to address the uneven landscape SA found itself in. At the same ignites Blacks to take their role in changing the knowledge set up created by the apartheid regime. As a result it is because of the democratic enabling environment that you will find some of us still being at the Higher Education sector as Academics. We blacks by virtue of us going to tertiary are not only an achievement on its own but also a challenge to survive while there till you graduate. Even after one graduate, circumstance most often forces us to quickly look for a job so that you can begin to take care of your parents and siblings perhaps. Once you have entered the working environment challenges continue to push you to even though you cannot afford it to own up certain material possessions since you are considered Educated and you want to associate such with the profession you are now in. This is the case even when you have an education loan to repay. In that you end up using your salary cheque as a valuation tool to take credit on things your parents or anyone at home never had but since you can now be able to finance. Once you are in debt the next thing step you embark upon is to look for another Job to find you heavily indebted life style. Running for Black car once we graduate seems to be the fastest thing we can think of rather than a property. Most often you may have an interest on pursuing your studies further but because of your upbringing background, you are forced to build/fix your parents’ house or take care of them, and as a result relegating the possibility of going back to school to be last on your list. At the same time when they say Bursaries/scholarships are available you are likely not to qualify mainly because during your students years you were chasing your qualification with a 50% pass mark only. As a result your chances of pursuing studies further have been dealt a great blow. This means that you are likely to be the consumer of knowledge until we dig a grave for you. SA in African has more Bursaries/financial assistance for postgraduate studies but such only need good marks as one of the requirements which most of us don’t meet. Such financial assistance remains unutilised. From all the tertiary institutions courses/Subjects you have done the books that made you to be a graduate today 99.999999% of them are written by White South African or overseas and sadly no book prescribed has been authored by a black South African. 20 years later I have made a little research on how many Blacks managed to complete a Doctoral Degree and are at institutions of higher learning.I want to pose to you a question whether or not is the number adequate to say 20 years later we are likely to have turned the table around and be knowledge creators as opposed to knowledge consumers. Out of 17 Universities with Law Faculties we have to date about 18 Black South African who managed to complete the Highest Degree in Law (LLD). My calculation is based on visiting the said universities websites only and the number could be more but definitely I doubt if we have over 30 Black South Africans with a Doctorate in Law. Such brave South Africans can be found at: 1. UP- tukkies 2, UNISA 3 (fourth to be confirmed), UJ 1, UCT 0, NMMU 1, NWU 2, NWU Potch 0, Wits 1, Univenda 0, Uni of Limpopo not exceeding 4, Rhodes 0, University of Zululand not more, than 2, University of KZN 02, Stellenbosch University 0, UWC 0, UOFS 0, University of Fort hare 0. How to redress this: This is not to be regarded as the ultimate guide to resolve the said embarrassing number but merely to serve as a guideline in this regard and perhaps awakens the need to push the number up and ultimately become knowledge creators in the next 20 years: (a) For those still at the tertiary education institutions ensure you not only study to pass but you do so with good marks, (b) Most universities restrict admission to their Postgraduate education with a percentage of 60% and some even could offer you a Bursary if your average is 60% preferably 65% upward. (How you calculate your average is take all your final year courses totals and divide the said total with the number of your final year courses. (c) Reading is the most important contributor to knowledge creation the more your read the more you will have an idea of could the society’s problems. I am not talking about Daily Sun or Magazines get a Journal or a book in your field and read it perhaps also your exposure to the working environment could help you identify problems and challenges and start there investigating solutions. If an author says there is little or no research on a particular topic knows that s/he has read extensively to come to that one line conclusion. It motivated him/her to contribute towards finding a solution. (d) Do not intend to further studies as a purpose of increasing your chances of earning higher salaries, by the way we have Grade 2s drop outs who earn more than educated people. So you must have a motivation to do it and money should be the last thing in your mind. (e) Writing is also the most draining exercise the more you write the better your chances of improving and of becoming a better writer. The metaphor “If you want to hide something from blacks put in a books/library” is confirmed by in my field the 18 Doctoral South Africans yet we have many who graduated since 1994 but none managed to go further. (f) Your background can also motivate you to embark on a path you will know definitely no one in your family, village or town has been that far. (g) Dedication, hard work and discipline also are a requirement. (h) Emotionally be prepared to travel the road since along the way you will be told you are nothing, you cannot write, you are not a material etc. (i) If you notice now having a Masters Degree has gradually becoming a normal thing but always the higher you go the lesser it becomes and it is only by going up and up that you will open up opportunities for yourselves. (j) Stop using material possessions as way of demonstrating your success in life and saying you have everything so you don’t need an education. In fact you need it to broaden your thinking, knowledge and understanding of the world around you. I have been told people without Masters are driving better cars than mine, are earning higher than me, if I did not know why I am here and doing what I am doing I would have quit long ago and chase what they were chasing. (k) I have heard some people claiming their careers are like a school they learn every day and there is no need to study further, and my response to that is that such people have a limited understanding of what learning/knowledge is. You can learn a lot by the way, by not doing anything or by doing something practical however a combination of such with formal learning can be rewarding. (l) So my fellow South Africans lets work towards being Knowledge producers and change the status of being knowledge consumers. You don’t have to be an Academic to be knowledge producer, there are various platforms one will be able to play a role over and above being an Academic. By so doing we would begin to take our place as Majority and become knowledge producers and not reduce ourselves to only consumers. As a reflection do the maths and ask yourself how many black South Africans do you know of in your own field that managed to complete the last degree? And if you realize there is none is there something you are doing about it? Or you merely don’t worry much as long as you can pay your debts you are happy and thanking the democratic government to have helped you to get where you are.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 12:20:26 +0000
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