LECTURE ON DIVERSITY AND CULTURE IN POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA, BY CLR
MPHO PARKS TAU, EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF JOHANNESBURG, 17 APRIL 2015,
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG, 17 APRIL 2015
Member of the University Senior Leadership Group, Dr Rose Laka-Mathebula
Member of the Senior Management Team of the Faculty of Student Affairs, Mr Godfrey Helani
University Academics
Students
Ladies and gentlemen
Good evening
I would like thank the University of Johannesburg, through you Dr Rose Laka-Mathebula, for
inviting me to deliver this lecture on diversity and culture in the post-apartheid South Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen: In the post-apartheid era, various political formations, from SASCO to
COSATU, found themselves in a dilemma. They wondered how to engage with the newly elected
ANC government, now run by their comrades. During apartheid the enemy, the apartheid
regime, was visible and clear, and the struggle for freedom was directed to its overthrow.
However in the post-apartheid era, a direct confrontation by SASCO, COSATU and other
formations with the democratically elected government could be easily interpreted as being
reactionary and insensitive. On the other hand, not challenging the state could mean that the
rank and file of various formations outside government, students and unions for instance, could
view their respective structures as weak and meek, without the courage, when issues vital to
their constituencies were at stake, to tackle the new government of the people, head on.
For students at tertiary level, this situation meant that they had to engage with the university
authorities in a meaningful way before resorting to strike action. This was particularly the case
as university officials in various institutions of higher learning now came from the ranks of the
liberation movement. These replaced the verkrampte apartheid officials who, for decades, ran
and controlled black universities with an iron fist. For example, in the 1990s Fort Hare was
headed by Professor Sibusiso Bengu, and subsequently by Professor Mbulelo Mzamane.
The University of the North, known popularly as Turfloop, came under the guidance of Prof
Njabulo Ndebele whilst the University of Venda was led by Professor Mushe Nkondo. These, and
other, progressive and politically conscious and informed vice-chancellors, understood that they
had to accommodate students and drive the process of transformation forward together with
them after the encounter with the Bantu education in all its guises and manifestations.
The situation required tertiary students to be part of transformation structures in their
respective universities, engaging their institutions on such issues as curriculum change and
quality assurance. Furthermore, and in the context of today’s lecture, the university
environment required students to deepen their understanding on complex matters ranging
from culture, ubuntu/botho, religion, history and heritage to diversity, democracy and freedom,
including issues around homosexuality, race and gender discrimination. Up to now, I have been
using the past tense. But of course these issues are the issues of today as well. You, and all of us,
are the direct inheritors and beneficiaries of these struggles and debates. Knowledge of this
history in turn enables you as students to debate and engage and be tolerant of others even in
the midst of vigorous intellectual engagement and often disagreement. Most importantly this
informed engagement will enable you to influence university policy to the right direction.
Therefore it is important for you as students to immerse yourselves in knowledge around these
various themes in order to deepen your understanding of the society we live in today. Debates
and controversies do not come out of nowhere; they have a history, and to make sense of issues
today we must know how our comrades confronted issues in the past. If we do not know about
the past we are arguing in a vacuum, going in circles when we ought to be standing on their
shoulders and using their achievements to see even further than they were able to do in their
context. History cannot be wished away. It cuts across many disciplines, helping to create
rounded people with wide-ranging and liberated minds.
Let me emphasise: history is indeed crucial in a changing multi-cultural society like South Africa.
It is perhaps particularly important at this time when too many of our people fail to see the
oneness of Africa and the many links that bind us to our fellow-Africans throughout the
continent. Through history we learn that before the partition of Africa by European colonialists
in the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, there was freedom of movement in Africa with no
border restrictions, leading to seamless acculturation and diversity. The partition of Africa has
stifled diversity and acculturation in the continent leading to ethnicity, racism and, of late,
xenophobic tendencies.
Post-apartheid South Africa re-introduced to us the concept of cultural inclusion, leading to
social cohesion between races. We do not always fully achieve this, but I think we need to think
back to our apartheid past perhaps more often than we do, measure how far we have come
from that grotesque system, and give thanks for the struggles that enabled the citizens of South
Africa to look at each other and interact with each other as equals under the Constitution.
Under apartheid, black history, heritage and culture was swept under the carpet and that of
whites was held at high esteem. This explains why the country’s history is contested and often
divisive and why our landscape is peppered with statues and symbols aimed at promoting white
supremacy: the subject of debate today.
The fall of apartheid and the new democratic dispensation which afforded us an opportunity for
social cohesion and non-racialism requires us to accommodate our brothers and sisters from
various parts of the continent. This requires us to broaden our understanding of cultural
diversity, curtailed by colonialism. We need to show ubuntu/botho towards the migrants who
have come to our country.
Their fellow-countrymen and women gave us shelter and support during exile times and
assisted us with resources to fight apartheid. After all, as proclaimed in the Freedom Charter,
South Africa belongs to all who live in it. We should also recall that some of our struggle
veterans traced their origins from African countries. For example, Clemens Kadalie, the founder
of the Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU) in 1919, the forerunner of all progressive unions
such as SACTWU, FOSATU and later COSATU, came from Malawi.
Our democratic dispensation also requires us to:
 Interpret and implement our constitution which embraces diversity and human rights in
a meaningful way.

Read and familiarise ourselves with our white paper from the Department of Arts and
Culture which emphasises cultural diversity and social inclusion.

Be tolerant of other races, cultures, and religions. This includes lesbian and gay cultures
and those whose opinion differ with ours.

Understand that culture is not static but evolves, bringing about acculturation.

Contend with and argue against behaviour and thinking that stereotypes and demeans
people. This includes discrimination against women.
The challenge to influence your institution and our country in the right direction is upon you as
students. You must immerse yourselves in knowledge and enhance your understanding of the
various themes debated in today’s lecture. Access to information should not be a problem for
you, especially considering how much easier it has become for you, students, to gain access to
electronic journals and e-books.
There is a vast world of literature out there, and it would not be sensible to lay down a rigid
‘curriculum’: a few books that came to my mind when I was preparing this lecture are Professor
Willy Magkoba’s edited African Renaissance; that great classic novel by Nigerian writer Chinua
Achebe Things fall Apart; another classic, this time of religious scholarship, African Religions and
Philosophy by the Kenyan John Mbiti; and yet another classic, this time of African political
thought, from Guinea-Bissau, Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amilcar Cabral. Note,
by the way, by considering the authorship of these great works, how intellectually we are part
and parcel of this great African continent.
In addition, there are various platforms and institutions that host seminars and disseminate
knowledge on the various themes, and many more besides, which I have outlined in my
presentation. These institutions present you with an opportunity to develop a culture of debate
and engagement as students. They include the SARChi Chair of African Diplomacy and Foreign
Policy here at UJ, the Centre for African Renaissance Studies at Unisa, the Centre for the Study
of Violence and Reconciliation in Braamfontein, Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research
(WISER), the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) in Pretoria which is now attached to the
Human Science Research Council (HSRC).
Students must also feel free to engage with the City of Johannesburg ’s various departments
some of which, like the Community Development, deal with aspects of today’s lecture. In
closing, let me thank you for inviting me to give this lecture. It provides an opportunity for
further and future engagement with the City. We will now open the floor for discussion and
debate.
Thank you