Restoring SA’s fading glory

The Nelson Mandela legacy is finally depleted. The “Madiba Magic” that opened international doors and wallets and froze criticism is no more.

For some time, international obsequiousness had been wearing thin – even the right-on Joe Biden administration had become impatient with South Africa’s anti-Western posturing – but it took Donald Trump to finally draw the curtain on perhaps the longest-running illusion in modern history.

USAid cuts pushed by anti-Israel support?

Trump’s freezing of billions in aid to South Africa, with more sanctions looming, has a simple moral.

Actions have consequences. What is more extraordinary is when an autonomous institution chooses self-immolation in preference to rescinding a council motion that puts it at odds with most of its staff and alumni, as well as a critical mass of the donors who have poured billions into making it the leading university on the African continent.

I am referring to the University of Cape Town (UCT). As was detailed in high court papers filed last month by historical studies professor Adam Mendelsohn, contesting the legality of a resolution passed by the UCT council enforcing an academic boycott of Israel, the financial damage caused to the university was potentially astronomical.

Since then Trump ll happened and February’s USAid freeze has been followed by whispers that the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is similarly about to cut research ties and funding.

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UCT warned by US

From a report tabled by UCT vice-chancellor Prof Mosa Moshabela at a heated council meeting at the weekend, during which he pleaded for the rescinding of the anti-Israel resolution, it transpires that the true situation is far worse than anyone comprehended.

US federal agencies currently fund 155 projects at UCT, of which 140 are NIH research programmes worth R2.75 billion. There is an additional indirect cost implication to UCT of R204 million.

The potential loss of intellectual capital would be staggering. UCT estimates that the salaries of 475 academic and research support staff depend wholly, or in part, on NIH funding.

The NIH also supports 61 postgraduate students and 20 postdoctoral fellows.

Moshabela warned that the resulting attrition of academic capacity will have negative knock-on effects that will reduce the subsidy and fee income on which UCT is “significantly reliant”.

Moshabela also reported that UCT had been warned by the US consulate that the resolutions on Gaza risked “triggering US sanctions targeted specifically at UCT”.

Beyond funding cuts, there is the possibility that individual UCT staff members may face direct sanction through visa denials or restricted participation in US activities.

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Magic Madiba touch needed amid USAid cuts crisis

All this drama took place against an already parlous and deteriorating situation at UCT.

Fundraising has cratered. Donor income last year was down 42%. In the face of the unbudging stance of the chair of council, advocate Norman Arendse, and the pro-Gaza faction rallied behind him, Moshabela merely pleaded for the council to “consider modifying the resolutions to prevent sanctions from impacting individual academics” and to “make explicit UCT’s opposition to anti-Semitism and signal UCT’s commitment to academic freedom”.

It was not to be. With the council deadlocked, Arendse cast the deciding vote.

All that is now needed is for Ramaphosa to acquire the magical Madiba touch and spirit us again into rainbow nation wonderland. In a bullet train, of course.

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