It is no longer a discussion, the University of KwaZulu-Natal has the best graduation ceremonies in the country. Students and their loved ones are free to express themselves in song, dance, praise singing, ululation and tears. This emotional jubilation represents stories of real hardships that many go through to achieve their academic accolades.
Some of these hardships are based on the backgrounds of the students; single parent-headed households, reliance on social grants as the sole income for households, strained homes because of divorce or death of parents, poor education in schools and difficulties to survive in an urban and trauma-inducing setting.
What is often hidden to the
families and friends of students are the hardships they undergo within our universities. We try to hide these until protests erupt, then die down and then the hiding continues.
At times, protests are on minimal bread and butter issues, not enough to illuminate the institutional culture shocks that many of our students
experience through their educational experience.
No institution, including UKZN, is completely transformed. Most are nowhere near being transformed and this is visible in the Mangena Commission Report on racism at UCT.
The university must be applauded, though, for being bold enough to institute The Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission. It has appointed an individual who is a product of the black consciousness movement to chair it and make public the commission’s findings.
Most universities do not even
possess such courage - they are too
comfortable in their oppressive institutional cultures.
The emotional jubilation seen at our graduations is because students have indeed battled “the system” and triumphed while a significant number of those who belonged in the same cohort as them fell victim of “the system”.
Those victims are now part contributors the growing number of youths
who are not in employment, education or training.
Are our graduates special?
In part, yes, because they stayed the course and university is not easy.
Discipline, resilience, focus and emotional intelligence are tested much more than one’s intelligence is challenged. Interrogation of “the system” must continue to happen and students must be at the epicentre of that interrogation. Civil society must discontinue its disengagement with higher education.
It is not always emotional jubilation that we witness at graduations. At times, outbursts of rage are seen.
We saw the uncontrollable emotions of UCT student activist Chumani Maxwele in 2018 during his graduation.
This week at a University of Johannesburg graduation ceremony, Kamvelile Goba - a student activist - used the ceremony to protest against racism at the institution.
For these outbursts of rage to manifest in spaces some deem as sacrosanct, demonstrates the pain and suffering some students have received at the hands of our institutions.
Goba was removed by bouncers
from the stage.
UJ student Kamvelile Goba and mother Philiswa. The EFF activist used his graduation to protest racism at the university.
UJ student Kamvelile Goba and mother Philiswa. The EFF activist used his graduation to protest racism at the university.
The mere fact that UJ hired bouncers for its graduations speaks volumes on the institution’s rigidity and paranoia to safeguard its untransformed outlook.
Can graduations be used as platforms for protest?
Definitely.
If we do not want this to happen,
we must improve the living conditions
of all people in our country, so that
going through university is not an extreme sport.